Discuss the wholesale blanks industry: Factory direct, custom labels. You can also use this forum to locate a wide variety of wholesale products including t-shirts, hoodies, mousepads, coffee mugs and other imprintable products.
Has anyone come across wholesale Fair Trade and Organic Ts in the US? That comes in more colors than black, white and natural? Any ideas of companies to try are welcome!
Thanks a bunch,
Michelle
__________________ MotherTongues wear words - celebrate cultures
Thanks!
Looks good, except that I would rather not go with anything made in the USA, since I don't think that will qualify for Fair Trade (They say they support Fair Trade, but that has nothing to do with the product being Fair Trade).
I seem to only find companies in the UK that sell t-shirts wholesale that is both organic and fair trade. Oh well, will have to search the Internet further!
__________________ MotherTongues wear words - celebrate cultures
It seems that fair trade certification for apparel has a long way to go.
From the second article:
"...a Fair Trade label does not guarantee that a garment was not made under sweatshop conditions. The Fair Trade label only certifies that the cotton was grown under fair trade conditions and does not cover the apparel manufacturing process. "
Thanks Jasonda!
I'm actually more confused now than before... Hopefully I'll find the "right" t-shirt some day! I guess we are all looking for the perfect T...
__________________ MotherTongues wear words - celebrate cultures
Thanks Jasonda!
I'm actually more confused now than before... Hopefully I'll find the "right" t-shirt some day! I guess we are all looking for the perfect T...
Sorry to make you more confused!
What makes a perfect T for you? If you make a list of your must-have standards it will be easier for people to recommend something.
Even if finding someone with FT certification is difficult or confusing, there are a lot of apparel companies that have their ethical standards listed on their sites (like no sweatshop labor, etc).
Well, for me the important things are:
Organic & Fair Trade
At least 5 colors available
Long sleeve, Women's and kids sizes available too
Not too thin - at least something like 5.5 oz
Ability to order in small quantities (like 50 at a time)
The company I use now, www.econscious.net, is pretty good with everything, except the fair trade part. I'm trying to find out if they are working towards certification in any company (like Co-op America), but in the meantime I'm investigating other companies.
I'm hoping econscious will be ok, they are a new company and may just not have joined any particular Fair Trade type company yet. I love the feel of their Ts.
Thanks for the help, Jasonda.
Michelle
__________________ MotherTongues wear words - celebrate cultures
Well, for me the important things are:
Organic & Fair Trade
At least 5 colors available
Long sleeve, Women's and kids sizes available too
Not too thin - at least something like 5.5 oz
Ability to order in small quantities (like 50 at a time)
Hmm.. Well I will let you know if I find anything that matches up.
"We have entered into a distribution relationship with a women’s sewing cooperative in Nicaragua (COMAMNUVI) that produces cotton T-shirts and camisoles. We carry an inventory of their T-shirts and can ship them from our warehouse in Minneapolis on demand."
Prices and colours are listed on their site as well.
I am new to this forum and am doing a project for an Organic farm festival - its a fundraiser. I was wondering if Free Trade usually is organic and vise versa. Sorry if this is a stupid question, I dont know that much about t-shirt standards.
Thank you very much - that was very helpful. I dont think this farm likes the idea of NAFTA t's. But if you know a good source of wholesale fair trade t's that I could check out that would be greatly appreciated. I havent checked the forum to see if they are already on here - but I will, so if they are just disregard my request =) Thanks again.
All our shirts are fair trade and 100% organic cotton. Our supplier cooperative is the FAIR Trade Zone. It used to be called COMAMNUVI. It is a women's sewing coop in Nicaragua. The women own the coop and run it democratically. They are known to groups like SweatShopWatch. You can contact them at:
If you write in Spanish, you'll get a response much quicker. You should direct your message to Maria Elena.
50 shirts is probably too few to order directly from the coop. We have an order for shirts and onesies right now. You could piggyback off ours. Also, Maggie's Organics (Organic & Fair Trade Clothing - Maggie's Functional Organics) works with them and sells wholesale.
"...a Fair Trade label does not guarantee that a garment was not made under sweatshop conditions. The Fair Trade label only certifies that the cotton was grown under fair trade conditions and does not cover the apparel manufacturing process. "[/quote]
Actually, decent working conditions for the garment workers is exactly what Fair Trade is supposed to guarantee. If a 'Fair Trade' garment was made under sweatshop conditions, it is dishonest and probably constitutes fraud.
Also, http://ethicalgoods.org/ is North Country Fair Trade. Our experiences with them were not good. Very disorganized. Long delays.
Fair Trade and Organic T-shirts in US? 
