Conscious Choice: No Sweat!

September 2005 | Co-op America’s Living Green

No Sweat!

Dear Co-op America, Do you know where I can buy sweatshop-free clothing? I’m doing a high school project on sweatshops and would like to inform my class.

— Meghan, e-mail

TERRIFIC PROJECT IDEA! The easiest ways to avoid sweatshop clothing are:

1) Look for the union label. The UNITE! label on a piece of clothing means it was made by a worker who belongs to unite here (a partnership between the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union). These U.S. workers earn union wages in healthy work environments. To find out more, visit unitehere.org.

2) Buy Fair Trade: You can find Fair Trade clothing items by looking for clothing companies that are members of the Fair Trade Federation (fairtradefederation.org). All FTF members are listed in Co-op America’s National Green Pages directory of green businesses, with a special notation in their listing noting that they belong to FTF. Your classmates can check the Green Pages for free online at greenpages.org (search under the clothing categories), or they can order a paper copy for $11.95 by calling 800-58-GREEN.

3) Buy from National Green Pages businesses. Speaking of the Green Pages, all clothing companies in our nationwide directory of green businesses commit to caring for workers all across their supply chains, as well their customers, communities and the environment.

4) Ask the companies from which you shop how they can guarantee no sweatshop labor was used in making their clothing. You and your classmates can see how the big department stores rank in terms of sweatshops in our Retailer Scorecard on our website, sweatshops.org.

You can also look up hundreds of mainstream companies on our Responsible Shopper online tool to see how they rate in terms of social and environmental responsibility, including sweatshop abuses, at responsibleshopper.org.

DEAR CO-OP AMERICA, There are small family farmers who specialize in bringing organic, seasonal food to their clients on a weekly basis. Do you know what I am talking about, and do you know how I can find such an arrangement in the Novato/Petaluma, or Santa Rosa area?

— Rainer M. Wachalovsky, California

WE DO! You’re looking for a CSA, or community supported agriculture farm, which does exactly what you described.

You can find a CSA or farmers’ markets near you by visiting Local Harvest’s website, www.localharvest.org. When we did a quick search in the Santa Rosa/Petaluma area, we found 29 listings, including several CSAs from which you can choose.

Living Green is brought to you by Co-op America, a DC-based nonprofit that provides green living, purchasing, and investing tips and resources. To join Co-op America and get a free copy of the National Green Pages™ directory of green businesses, contact 800-58-GREEN, coopamerica.org. If you have a question, e-mail Living Green.

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