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Maggie's Story - Social
Aspects
 At
Maggie's, we believe that there is no environmental sustainability
without social responsibility.
It is impossible to separate the environmental concerns of garment
production from its social impacts. Many hands contribute to
the making of garments: from the farmers who harvest the raw
agricultural crops; to the spinners who make the yarn and the
knitters who knit the fabric; to the sewers who cut and sew
the garments. We believe that every worker is entitled to a
safe working environment and an honest day's wages, and also
an active voice in their future.
In a world laden with sweatshop labor and unethical treatment
of workers, Maggie's offers an alternative. Using a fair trade
model, we promote and monitor the practices of our business
partners in several ways:
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Requiring full disclosure of working
conditions and production standards. Using an annual
questionnaire tailored to each prospective contractor
and supplier, we demand disclosure of company policies,
wages, benefits, and procedures pertaining to sustainability
and fair labor practices. (Contact us for details) |
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Making on-site visits. We
visit each facility and interview workers as well as management,
both before initiating a contract and during our on-going
relationship with vendors. To insure that workers rights
and needs are respected, we interact with them directly,
including interaction with workers independent of management. |
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Establishing ongoing relationships
with partners to develop environmentally sustainable practices.
Maggie's aims to collaborate with partners to constantly
improve the ways we manufacture, print, package, market,
and more. By inspiring our manufacturers to implement
more sustainable and responsible procedures into their
businesses, we feel we can really have an impact. |
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Supporting Worker-Owned Cooperatives
vs. Sweatshops. We choose to support worker-owned
cooperatives whenever possible. Today we continue to support
The Fair Trade Zone in Nueva Vida, and are also supporting
the creation of a spinning cooperative next door to the
Fair Trade Zone, which will spin all of its yarn. We recently
created a new partnership with a 100% worker-owned cooperative
in Costa Rica, which is sewing some of our newer garments.
Our latest project is the development a 100% worker-owned
cooperative in rural North Carolina, which we hope will
be knitting a large number of our socks in the near future.
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