Canadian outdoor retailer Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) said its first Fair Trade Certified T-shirts will be available late this summer online and in its 17 brick-and-mortar stores. The T-shirts, which will include MEC's popular line of organic cotton short and long-sleeved t-shirts for women, mark the launch of an entire line of Fair Trade Certified apparel. Men's t-shirts will be added to MEC's Fair Trade Certified line next spring.
MEC said its Fair Trade Certified clothing will provide tangible benefits for the factory workers who make the Tshirts in Pithampur, India. For every Fair Trade Certified shirt MEC sells, the co-op will pay a cash premium directly into a special fund directed by the workers.
"Fair Trade is uniquely positioned to ensure fair wages and safe working conditions for the people who make MEC-brand products," said CEO David Labistour. At the same time, the Fair Trade Certified label quickly communicates those benefits to our members who wish to make principled purchases."
A democratic process will enable the factory workers to decide how to best spend the special fund. They could choose to enhance local community services in support of health care, education or improved transportation infrastructure ?or opt to take the premium as a cash bonus to bolster their own incomes.
"By championing Fair Trade Certified apparel in the Canadian marketplace, MEC is supporting factories that prioritize best-in-class conditions while empowering workers to improve their lives and their communities," said Maya Spaull, Director of New Category Innovation at Fair Trade USA. "At the same time, MEC is empowering consumers to wear their values and help to alleviate poverty through every t-shirt purchase."
MEC plans to inform its members about how the Fair Trade premiums are ultimately spent by the workers who will benefit from the program.
Besides enhancing workers' quality of life, MEC's partnership with Fair Trade USA includes independent third- party monitoring of workplace conditions in Fair Trade Certified factories. It also provides factory management with support for such things as on-the-ground training geared to upholding workplace safety. For their part, employees participate in a series of Fair Trade trainings to learn about their rights under the standards, how to manage and invest additional income and how to improve communications with management.
Fair Trade is a market-based approach to poverty alleviation and sustainable development that offers incentives to factories for complying with strict social, economic and environmental criteria. Most widely known as a certification for coffee or chocolate, Fair Trade USA has spent the past three years developing an apparel standard certification program that has the potential to dramatically change the entire manufacturing industry for the better.
Offering its members Fair Trade Certified apparel is a further step in MEC's efforts to improved working conditions for factory workers. In 2013, in recognition of its responsible sourcing program, MEC received full accreditation from the Fair Labor Association.
MEC has more than 3.75 million members across Canada.
