I’m seeing a lot of manufacturers/retailers touting “fair trade” these days and I think it’s great! Some of it is even organic. But… the only problem here is that a lot of it is being shipped from halfway accross the globe. Speaking for myself, I really believe in a local economy. Being in the apparel industry, it’s not always easy. More and more apparel is being produced overseas. Recently though, I’ve noticed a few companies that are “made in the USA”, and I think that is great! Sometimes it can be hard for a retailer such as myself to sell those items because let’s face it- if those companies are paying American wages, the clothes are going to cost more than paying someone $1.00 an hour in some third world country. But come on, we need jobs here too. We should be able to make things and sell them here, and the people in third world countries should be able to make and buy their own products too. We’ve gotten ourselves into a bit of trouble (environmental, economic, social) by demanding cheap goods made elsewhere. I am really proud to have quite a few lines in my shop that are USA made. I guess when I see something that’s made in the USA, I don’t really need to question if it’s fair trade- I assume it is. If it’s being produced in a sweatshop here in the USA(it can happen), it would be totally against the law. If children were being used, it would be against the law. If the workers were subject to substandard working conditions, it would be against the law. If the workers were being forced to work a 60 hour week without overtime pay, it would be against the law. And so on. So when I buy something that says “Made in the USA” I am trusting that the item is being made fairly and, it’s not using all that fuel to get it here. So, next time you’re looking for “fair trade” or “organic”, consider USA made, and then put pressure on those companies to produce “organic, made in the USA”.
By the way, a couple of USA made companies are “Barley & Birch” (we may pick them up), “Pixel Organics” (we carry them), “Flaphappy” (we carry it), “Pea Soup” (made in Chicago area), “Pluto”, “Bog Togs” (unique, handmade in Wisconsin!) , “Earhart” ( great tie on baby caps that we carry, made in Cary, Il.). And- our own hand-dyed clothing some of which is organic, most of which is USA made. These are just a few, I’m sure I’m forgetting something! More on this later.
