What does the term "Fair Indigo" mean?
This is a very popular question. There's really not a lot of magic here. We knew we needed a business with a ".com" web address. In 2005, just about every word in the English language had already been taken, so we knew we needed two words. So using an Excel spreadsheet, we listed in Column A adjectives that we liked and in Column B nouns that we liked. Of dozens of permutations, Fair Indigo was our favorite. And the web domain name was available!
How can your prices be so reasonable if you pay higher wages?
We strongly believe that for fair trade to work, it can't be an elite enterprise. We keep our costs down first by working directly with our producers wherever we can. This cuts out a layer of profit in the supply chain. Second, we ourselves work extremely efficiently. Our offices in the suburbs of Madison, Wisconsin are extremely spartan. Used office furniture, very used white boards (they're gray). When traveling we stay in small locally-owned guest houses or sometimes in the homes of our suppliers. Finally, we don't run national ad campaigns, a huge expense for other apparel brands. We instead rely heavily on word-of-mouth, a task made easier by the special stories Fair Indigo can tell.
How do you determine what a "fair" wage is?
While there isn't yet a one-size-fits-all fair wage formula, Fair Indigo is using the Fair Wage Guide from the World of Good Development Organization (www.fairtradecalculator.org) to help determine living wages in each of our locations. You can read more about their methodology on their website.
Who certifies your products are fairly made?
Though many commodities such as coffee, tea, and some cotton is certified fair trade, there is not yet an internationally recognized certification label for apparel. We use the Fair Wage Guide from World of Good and partner with Verite, an award-winning, non-profit independent auditor based in Amherst, Massachusetts. Verite conducts all of our audits of wages and working conditions. You can learn more at www.Verite.org.
Will there ever be fair trade certification for apparel?
TransFair (www.transfairusa.org) is the NGO (non-governmental organization) in the United States that certifies fair trade products (currently coffee and other commodities). We hope to participate in their pilot apparel program sometime in 2010.
Is all of your clothing organic or eco-friendly?
Over the past few years, we have introduced a growing assortment of organic and other eco-friendly fabrics into our line. While our primary focus is on the people making our clothing, we have committed to using ecologically beneficial materials in at least 80% of our new products.
Why don't you insist on all organic or eco-friendly materials?
In a perfect world, we would. We can demonstrate why we don't with an example. Cowhide is probably one of the least eco-friendly materials out there. But our philosophy is this. If people in the world are buying leather products, let's figure out how to offer better leather products. The small leather workshop we work with in Colombia was started by three sisters who started with nothing. They've grown into a small flourishing company that hires almost twenty people who were living in extreme poverty until they landed jobs here. Many have worked for the sisters almost twenty years, including our friend Amparo who paid off her house loan with the income she's earned. Fair Indigo is the first company outside of Colombia they have worked with and they are absolutely thrilled with the possibility of growing their business and the incomes of their people. Because of stories like this, we make exceptions. Until no one wants leather, we will support companies like this.
How are your factories audited?
While we strongly believe in the value of building a personal relationship with each of our co-ops and factories, and visit them frequently, our policy is "trust, but verify." During these visits, payroll records are vigorously reviewed, employees are interviewed at length, and health and safety conditions are recorded. Our non-profit auditor, Verité uses an especially stringent employee interviewing technique that includes spending time in the communities where our facilities are located where they can get candid input from the workers in a safe environment outside the workplace.
Why don't you publish the names of your facilities?
While we don't publish the names of our factories and cooperatives on our website for confidentiality reasons, we have shared them with news media, students, and fair trade organizations. It took us nearly two years to find facilities with high wages and excellent working conditions and we view this as something to be legitimately protected. We are more than happy to (and indeed have) shared our supplier information with other fair trade or socially-minded companies.
Do you use fair trade cotton in your production?
The certification of fair trade cotton is just getting underway in the western hemisphere. We are hoping to introduce this into our line in the near future with Peruvian cotton.
I see that some of your products are made in China. How can that be fair?
There are many socially irresponsible factories in China. We have seen them and the criticism is valid. But we found one facility near Shanghai where workers are truly being lifted up out of their former poverty. We do not believe it is moral to penalize these workers nor their generous factory owner simply because they happen to live in China. We don't believe in blanket boycotts as they hurt everyone equally, whether complicit or not. The most effective way to change the apparel business in China is by rewarding the family-run factories that are shining examples of fairness and encouraging other clothing retailers to follow. To ensure compliance with our standards, in addition to the rigorous auditing by Verité that we regularly conduct with all our factories, a Fair Indigo representative is personally present during our production times to verify that there is no "outsourcing" to lesser factories—a common method used in China to circumvent auditing standards.
Are all of your factory workers union-represented?
No. While we certainly support the right of workers to form unions, and audit to high standards of freedom of association, we consider unions as one way to achieve fair wages and working conditions. Worker-owned co-ops, enlightened management, and government regulation are other methods. Our focus is on workers earning fair wages and living comfortable lives. We tend to be agnostic on the methods used to get there.
Why don't you have more Made-in-US products?
A growing portion of our offering is made in the US. While traditional apparel factories in the US have dwindled in recent years, there are a number of smaller shops forming around the country in response to growing demand for local production. Fundamentally our sourcing decisions are simple: we search for places that offer the best wages and benefits in the local context and can produce the quality and quantities that we need to operate a premier brand.
What about the non-Fair Indigo products you carry? Do you visit those facilities too?
While it's impossible for us to visit each and every production facility in these cases, we very carefully screen our partner companies and focus only on those that can strongly demonstrate that they are indeed "doing good." Some have certifications, some are doing mission work with hugely disadvantaged populations, some are using only certified recycled or organic materials, some are family-run businesses in the US where workers are earning three times the minimum wage. Whenever we find someone who stands out in these areas, we take a hard look at their product and decide if it complements the family of Fair Indigo products we develop ourselves.
Why do you mail catalogs and waste paper?
We would humbly argue that trying to lift the world's workers out of poverty is far from wasting paper. We strongly believe our use of paper is put to admirable use. Furthermore, we use Forest Stewardship Council certified paper (www.fscus.org) in our catalogs and use as much post-consumer recycled content as we can afford each season.
Do you share my personal information with other companies?
We absolutely never share your telephone number or email address. As most companies with catalogs, we are members of direct marketing cooperatives that occasionally share address information with other like-minded companies. If you would like to remove your name from the cooperative listing, we are more than happy to do so for you.
What else do you do to support the environment?
We do much more than recycling office paper. We buy used office furniture whenever we can. This helps us keep our costs down and prevents a perfectly good filing cabinet from filling a landfill. We have also formed a green shipping partnership with our coffee supplier, Just Coffee, here in Madison. Each season we receive hundreds of shipping cartons from our suppliers. Rather than simply recycling these in the traditional recycle dumpster, Just Coffee picks up these cartons and reuses them to ship their bulk coffee orders all over the country. Finally, we use environmentally responsible materials in our store. Bamboo floors and hangers, recycled metal and glass are some examples.
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