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Manufacturers
There are 6 manufacturers.
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Bgreen
Bgreen’s certified organic cotton garments are made with your comfort and our planet in mind. Our designs are simple yet bold, soft yet durable. Our classic creations in playful prints and colourful options provide fresh looks for your active lifestyle. Healthy for the environment, perfect for your body - a beautiful and smart choice for the entire family.
History
In 2002, We put our passion for the planet and years of experience (third generation family) in apparel manufacturing behind the creation of the bgreen brand, our first NatureUSA label. The idea was simple: offer quality, organic cotton garments that look good, fit comfortably and leave the world a better place.
NatureUSA has been using certified-organic cotton and low-impact dyes for more than a decade. The hard work and dedication has earned them a reputation as a premier US manufacturer.
As citizens of the planet, NatureUSA believe it is everyone’s responsibility to protect and preserve our natural resources for this generation and many more to come. And, with the support of a growing number of conscious consumers, we intend to continue to do our part.Certification
The entire production process from fibre to finished garment is certified according to Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). It is the most widely recognized international standards covering all aspects of textile processing and environmentally-socially responsible manufacturing.
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FibrEthik
Please note that the Fibrethik Coop is now closed (end of 2012). The Fibrethik online boutique created by an ex-employee of the Coop is now in charge of the commercial representation of Green Living Organics in Quebec.
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FibrEthik is a not-for-profit co-operative that imports and promotes Fair Trade and Organic Cotton clothing produced in India.
FibrEthik imports all products directly from three small-scale producer groups who are members of the OCGrA (Organic Cotton Growers Association) Co-op in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. The mission of these three co-ops is to support and to coach small scale cotton producers in the use of organic agriculture. The small scale producers are grouped under village cooperatives, which allows them to share costs for warehousing, transportation, etc. This arrangement benefits the producers and allows them to earn 50% more producing Fair Trade and organic cotton than would be possible producing conventional cotton.
At the manufacturing stage FibrEthik works with two socially-oriented organizations in India that are pioneers in manufacturing Fair Trade and organic cotton. One of the organizations was founded by the order of the Franciscan sisters of India with the mission to provide work for poor women in local communities, especially widows. Additionally, the manufacturing plant is contributing to the construction of a hospital to treat cancer patients in the area. Moreover, both manufacturing organizations have forged strong links with the cotton producers and, currently, the members of OCGrA Co-op hold 10% of the garment company’s shares, thus allowing farmers to get a share of the profits.
In both plants, processing of cotton into fabrics or garments is done organically with no chemicals, according to the worldwide-recognized GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) organic certification norms. Moreover, all processes related to production fulfil the International Labor Organization norms and, in general, workers benefit from greatly enhanced working conditions. FibrEthik is also a member of the Fair Trade Federation and is recognized as an organization 100% committed to the Fair Trade approach.
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Maggie's Organics
Maggie’s Organics has been making high-quality durable and affordable socks and apparel out of organic fibres since 1992.
Mission
Maggie’s Organics mission since the beginning has been to produce and provide comfortable, durable, affordable and beautiful articles of apparel and accessories made from materials that restore, sustain, and enhance resources, including human, from which they are made. Maggie's Organics is inspired by the fulfilment of this mission and are humbled by how much further there is to go.
History
Maggie's Organics began quite by accident, when an organic corn farmer in Texas taught them the truth behind conventional cotton. Founder Bená Burda was working with the farmer to improve the quality of his blue corn crop for the tortilla chips she was marketing at the time. The farmer decided that adding cotton into his three year organic crop rotation would improve his corn yields. His experiment worked and also provided him with 200 acres of certified organic cotton, which he expected Bená to sell! After researching cotton, and learning that this one crop is grown on 3-5% of the world’s cultivated land and yet uses nearly 10% of the world’s pesticides and 25% of the world’s insecticides, Maggie's Organics was born with the commitment to utilizing these 200 acres of organic cotton to tell the real story behind conventional cotton clothing.
But how to get the word out about this newly discovered environmental calamity? Given their history of marketing organic foods, it was natural for them to turn to all of their friends who were natural food entrepreneurs. So they decided to attend the 1992 Natural Products Expo (then called the Natural FOODS Expo) with a wall of socks to sell. Food retailers with an existing consumer base concerned about the environment were not exactly eager to sell socks, but they were persistent and their retailers were and still are both creative and adaptive. After getting Maggie's socks placed in stores throughout the US, they began to expand the line to include tee shirts, polo shirts and logo-wear for organic food companies.
As the product offering expanded, Maggie's learned first-hand about the working conditions in textile plants while dealing with two ongoing problems: late orders and poor quality. This led Maggie's to spend more time in their contract factories, trying to figure out why these problems recurred. This is when they learned who actually sews the clothes that we all buy: poor and often under-educated workers, mostly women, paid by the piece. Most important of all, it became clear that workers in apparel chains are completely disenfranchised from the customers who wear their clothes as well as the companies whose labels they sew.
Maggie's began to ask themselves how they could consider themselves an environmentally responsible company while engaging in such an irresponsible supply chain. There had to be a better way. This is when Maggie's began a partnership with Jubilee House Community, a community development organization that had been helping victims of natural disasters in Nicaragua for over a decade. JHC was committed to finding employment for those in need and had access to many workers, both skilled and unskilled. Maggie's offered JHC a challenge: If they could create a facility where every worker had a vested interest in their mutual success and had a way to determine their own success, Maggie's would turn all of their sewing contracts over to them. JHC suggested a worker-ownership model and together they created a 100% worker-owned sewing cooperative in Nicaragua called the Fair Trade Zone. This experience inspired Maggie's to continue pursuing other cooperative projects and to develop relationships with contractors who honor workers’ rights.
Today, Maggie’s Organics has developed three separate supply chains that produce all of their products: socks, leg-wear, and apparel. All socks are made by 5 family-owned mills in North Carolina. Maggie's Organics is very proud of the fact that every pair of socks they have made in the past 18 years has been made in the USA. Each supply chain they use is committed to providing a quality Maggie’s product that is produced with fair working conditions and practices and, as always, all of their cotton and wool is 100% certified organic.
Maggie’s Organics is intricately involved with each step of production of their organic cotton apparel, from the farming of the cotton to the finished garment. Their goal is to connect the workers who make the products with the consumers who wear them.
Recently, Maggie's has began working with independent monitoring organizations that now offer 3rd party verification programs that certify the working conditions and labor conditions in their supply chain. Their Central American supply chain is the first to have been certified to these standards. In early 2010, the entire supply chain was Certified Fair Labor™ through the Fair Labor Practices and Community Benefits by Scientific Certification Systems. Every stage of production was certified to this new standard: the growers, cotton gin, spinner, knitter, dyer, cutter, sewer and screen-printer as well as the office and warehouses at Maggie’s. Certification to this standard covers equitable hiring and employment; safe workplace conditions; worker and family access to health; education, and transportation services; local and regional impacts; community engagement and demonstrated economic stability.
Additionally, this same supply chain in Central America is now licensed to sell Fair Trade Certified™ organic cotton apparel. This new pilot program through Fair Trade USA certifies working conditions for the growers of the organic cotton, knitters and dyers of the fabric and cutters and sewers of the garments. It guarantees that Maggie's pay the established fair trade price for their cotton and that each grower and worker receives an additional cash premium designed to be used for social programs in their communities.
Maggie’s Organics is proud of what they have accomplished with every worker in their supply chains and are honored with the partnerships they have developed. Maggie's is persistently searching for ways to grow and expand their efforts. In 2011, they plan to have their knitters in North Carolina utilizing organic cotton yarn from their Nicaraguan farmers for Maggie's socks. Maggie's is committed to building a vertical supply chain that is 100% worker-owned. They are also helping the Nicaraguan farmers supply organic cotton fibre to Peru. As Maggie's Organics has grown over the past 18 years, they are continually looking for more opportunities, not just for Maggie’s, but also for their supply chain partners.
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