HOW DO YOU ORDER FAIR TRADE APPAREL PRODUCTS?

From JCU's Fair Trade Interns:

The following provides suggestions for attaining "Fair Trade" t-shirts and other apparel - the list is not exhaustive. It is important to note that currently there is no official international or domestic certification for apparel (like there is for coffee and other food/drink products). The companies referenced below meet certain standards that provide a more just environment for the producers - these guidelines may differ from company to company. For lack of a better term, we refer to these vendors as offering Fair Trade products. You may also choose to work with a number of t-shirt/apparel distributors who provide U.S. Union-Made apparel, products which are relatively equivalent to the "Fair Trade" vendors mentioned below. We reference one union printer/apparel distributor at the bottom of this list. There are others in the Cleveland area and beyond.

We are hopeful that emphasizing the use of Fair Trade and Union-Made products will help to increase the demand for products which draw attention to the treatment of workers throughout the world and that overtime this attention will begin to alter the global marketplace.

Please contact Chris Kerr at ckerr@jcu.edu or 216-397-4777 with questions or concerns.

Fair Trade Organic & Regular Cotton T-shirts

Ethical Tees
Ethical Tees is a company committed to “developing and expanding sustainable and fair business relationships.” The company offers exclusively Fair Trade t-shirts from the Nueva Vida women’s sewing cooperative in Nicaragua and from a factory that has been certified by the Fair Trade Labeling Organization (FLO) in West Bangal, India.

T-shirts are available in a variety of colors and are produced with either regular cotton or 100% organic cotton.
Pricing ranges from $5.35 to $7.20 per t-shirt based on volume and color choice.
Ethical Tees ordering minimum is 100 however, under special cases they will allow for orders of less than 100.

For more information or to place an order e-mail james@ethicaltees.com or call Ethical Tees at 5107.412.1733.

Fair Trade T-shirts, Sweatshirts, and Cloth Tote Bags

North Country Fair Trade
North Country Fair Trade offers goods from Maquiladora Dignidad y Justicia (Dignity and Justice Assembly Shop) in Mexico. They describe themselves as “A distribution company linking Fair Trade Producers to U.S. consumers.”

T-shirts, sweatshirts, and cloth tote bags are available in a variety of colors and sizes:
For pricing information visit North Country Fair Trade’s Product Page.

To place an order with North Country Fair Trade e-mail: northcountryfairtrade@comcast.net

Just Apparel

Just Apparel partners with indigenous artisan women in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala to produce sweatshirts, polos, t-shirts, and tote-bags. They market themselves and their products as “ethically produced alternatives to the goods that student organizations and companies in the U.S. already buy in large numbers.” Just Apparel is a member of the Fair Trade Federation.

Many styles and colors are available.  Prices range depending on the product which you are ordering.  To check out prices visit the link above.

Additional Links:
Nueva Vida Sewing Cooperative

Comite Fronterizo de Obreras (Maquiladora Dignidad y Justica’s sponsor)

Screen Printing

Madison Graphics
Madison Graphics is a family owned business located in on the West Side of Cleveland in Lakewood, Ohio. Madison Graphics is a Graphic Communications International Union printer.

This means that Madison Graphics screen printers are union members. GCIU standards include a collective bargaining agreement, pension plan, health care plan, grievance procedure, a union privilege program, and a credit union.

For more information about GCIU, click here.

The minimum order for screen printing is twelve shirts per color.
(Example: one color logo=minimum of 12 shirts, two color logo=minimum of 24 shirts, three color logo the minimum is 36 shirts, etc)

Pricing of screen printing depends on type of shirt, color of shirt, and number of colors in logo.
Madison Graphics will provide you with a price quote before you place your order. E-mail madgraphic@sbcglobal.net or call 1-888-LOGOTEE for more information.