By amie, on September 1st, 2010
Radio host Beth Greer, from “SuperNatural Life” on 960 AM in San Francisco, interviewed Maggie’s CEO and Founder Bená Burda this past weekend.
You can listen online, and hear Bená discuss organic alternatives to conventional cotton, which is one of the most highly sprayed crops on the planet, using an estimated three to five percent of all cultivated land.
Beth and Bená also discuss the difficult working conditions that prevail for the women who make up most of the workforce in the global apparel industry, and how Maggie’s is offering a positive alternative: Fair Labor Certified apparel, produced with fair wages and respect for garment workers.
Beth on Bená: “… a pioneer, who is really making a difference on the planet.”
Thanks, Beth! Check out the interview, and other SuperNatural Life programming here.
By amie, on August 25th, 2010
How would you like to work an eight hour day…and earn less than a dollar?
That’s the situation faced by garment workers in Bangladesh, who until recently earned a pitiful minimum wage of 12¢ an hour- the lowest in the world.
Workers have been agitating for a raise to 35¢ an hour, which would add only a fraction to production costs for Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney, and other retailing giants who source their products from Bangladesh. In July, the government announced a minimum wage increase to 21¢ an hour.
Workers took to the streets to protest what they felt was an inadequate response to their demands. The Bangladesh government’s solution: Arrest the protestors!
The crackdown targeted leaders of the Bangladeshi Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS), described by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) as “one of the most respected non-governmental labor rights organizations in Bangladesh.”
From ILRF’s backgrounder:
The BCWS leaders were arrested on unsubstantiated charges of fomenting worker unrest – part of a strategy by the government of Bangladesh to deal with recent riots among garment workers by scapegoating peaceful worker advocates rather than addressing the true underlying cause of such turmoil: the country’s abysmal working conditions. At 20 cents an hour, Bangladesh has by far the lowest wages of any major apparel producing country. Its garment sector has also been ravaged by a series of fires and building collapses which have killed scores of workers.
An online appeal has raised $2500 to post bail for the arrested leaders; ILRF and other US-based labor advocates, including the AFL-CIO, say they have “grave concerns” about the safety of those arrested, “in light of the government’s track record of torturing detainees.”
The ILRF, by the way, is a sponsor of Free2Work.org, a beta site which rates consumer firms on their efforts to prevent child and forced labor, and whether “employees know their rights and are able to negotiate conditions of work.”
Maggie’s Organics is rated “A” for apparel by Free2Work.org, recognizing our efforts to respect and involve workers at all levels of our supply chain. We are the only company in our industry to receive this top rating.
By amie, on August 12th, 2010
Fiction and green fashion: Novelist Allie Larkin is the author of Stay (“a touching story of love, loss and dog ownership”) and a co-founder of TheGreenists.com, a website with tips on simple steps for green living.
Allie is also a new fan of Maggie’s Organics Fair Labor Apparel.
After trying out Maggie’s cami, hoodie, and basic black dress, Larkin called our clothes “simple and elegant…super functional and so cozy.”
She also appreciates the social and environmental values that are built into all of Maggie’s products: “And I love that Maggie’s Organics has such a strong commitment to being kind to people and the environment.”
You can see the full review here. Thanks, Allie…and good luck with the new book!
By Taylor Caldron, on August 9th, 2010
In case you’ve missed our previous posts leading up to this, Maggie’s marketer Taylor Caldron is with a University of Michigan student-organized relief trip to New Orleans and the Gulf coast. The following is his update as of yesterday, the 8th of August.
Today we drove down to Venice, LA to see how close we could get to the spill cleanup operations. Our first stop was the massive shipyard and marina located just inside the city limits. It was a strange atmosphere. There was a strong law enforcement presence, with local sheriff trucks and police campers. We first approached someone who was working on launching a boat. When we asked him about where we could find anything related to the oil spill, he claimed that he hadn’t seen anything: no oil, no clean-up, nothing. About 200 feet behind him was an elevated building that used to be the central office for the marina. A temporary sign had been placed in front of it’s walkway featuring the BP logo. Continue reading Taylor’s Adventures near the Oil Spill Recovery Sites
By Taylor Caldron, on August 7th, 2010
I began the day by working more with the upstart charter schools in making their marketing materials more oriented towards recruiting new students and volunteers. With any luck, they’ll be able to fill their schools to maximum capacity – meaning a better education for more New Orleans youth.
After this, a young woman working on a fellowship with Resurrection after Exoneration took us on a tour of the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans – the area most devastated by Katrina. The state of disrepair was incredible, especially considering how much time has passed since the disaster. There were many empty lots . . . → Read More: Another update from New Orleans
By Taylor Caldron, on August 6th, 2010
Hey everyone! Last night I arrived in New Orleans as a part of the Ross Responds mission to help revitalize the city post-Oil Spill and post-Katrina. It’s an incredibly interesting environment to be in right now. All of the locals are reflecting on how far the city has come since the storm five years ago, and what still needs to be done. Although this is my first time in the city, I have a strange feeling that ‘it isn’t what it used to be’ – there is a wealth of beautiful architecture and art everywhere you look, but you rarely see . . . → Read More: An Update from Maggie’s Correspondent in the Gulf Coast
By amie, on July 28th, 2010
I recently had the privilege to travel down to San Jose, Costa Rica to visit with one of our supply chains that produces our Fair Labor Certified garments. The trip was really an eye opener into how garments are produced from the yarn to finished item. Here is a little peek into this process.
The factory in San Jose is CIA Textiles. They originally started out with making socks and have since grown to be experts in the finishing and dying of fabrics.
The original sock knitting machine!
Once our organic cotton yarn arrives at CIA, it is stored in a . . . → Read More: A closer look at how garments are made
By Taylor Caldron, on July 27th, 2010
Maggie’s unique line of Fair Labor Apparel is making news in the blogosphere.
Planet Green recently posted about “Sweat Shop Free Clothing That’s Fiscally Responsible.” The article featured Maggie’s “reasonably priced” camis, dresses, hoodies, pants, scarves and t-shirts, which retail for between $12 and $35.
Ecouterre reports that Maggie’s “is the first manufacturer in the world to sell clothing that is independently certified to a new standard for Fair Labor Practices and Community Benefits.”
Maggie’s customers, always ahead of the curve, have already made Fair Labor Apparel a hit, with higher-than-expected demand for top quality clothes made with 100% organic fibers and produced in . . . → Read More: Maggie’s Fair Labor Apparel featured on Planet Green, Ecouterre
By Taylor Caldron, on July 26th, 2010
Recently, students of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment graduate programs began organizing three trips to New Orleans to help with the oil spill relief efforts. Each of the three trips will consist of 14 graduate students from the U of M, which will be working with New Orleans locals for one week in August. The University was generous enough to provide vans for the students to use on the trip, which has been entitled “Ross Responds”.
According to trip organizers Adam Carver and Rosemary Lapka, the efforts of the students will range . . . → Read More: Maggie’s Marketer Travels to the Gulf to help with Student-organized Oil Spill Relief
By Taylor Caldron, on July 16th, 2010
Earlier this week, WPPR of Grand Rapids hosted our founder Bena Burda on their The Monday Report show to discuss our new Fair Labor Certification. Well aware of the difficulties involved in creating fair working conditions in the apparel industry, hosts Buck Geno and Michael Johnston were thoroughly impressed by Bena’s groundbreaking work. You can download the interview, or listen to it streaming online here. Bena’s segment begins at around 9 minutes, 30 seconds into . . . → Read More: Maggie’s Founder Bena Burda featured on WPPR – Public Reality Radio
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