When you shop from a Fair Trade Certified brand, you are taking part in a movement that is working to create better opportunities for garment workers, but not always in the ways you would expect. To celebrate Fair Trade Month we are going to dive into some of the nuance of what fair trade means and how specifically it's been benefitting our global production partners...

When we think about the term "fair trade" our general instinct is to believe that workers are being paid fairly for the work they are doing to create the goods we consume or wear. While this is a basic tenant of the Fair Trade Certified process there is so much more beyond this that we think is helpful to know.

First, in addition to the fair compensation received by workers, brands (like KNOWN SUPPLY and others) are paying an additional fee on top of the purchase price for every piece created — this is know as a Fair Trade Premium.

One important thing to note, is that all brands pay this premium upfront, making their commitment to positive impacts a part of their normal business operations and not a quid pro quo they establish with their customers — i.e. you buy X and we'll Y to make a positive impact.

Now here's where things get fun.

The Fair Trade Premiums paid for by brands enter what's called the Community Development Fund. Each fund is specific to a factory or production partner, and it remains the responsibility of Fair Trade Committee to decide how this money is dispersed to the employees. This committee is made of individuals who were voted to the position by others within the factory.

Why does this matter? Because this means that garment workers at a Fair Trade production facility are getting to have sway over how these funds are spent. With our work in international economic development over the last 2 decades, the best results have always come from people having the autonomy to decide what's most important for themselves and their families.

Here are a few of the recent projects that have been completed at different locations where we produce KNOWN SUPPLY clothing. They offer a great example of the diversity of projects and how those reflect the needs of each specific community:

• Our production partner ASI who makes all of our hats educated employees on the importance of healthy diets and then gave away bundles of healthy foods items to over 400 people.

• Rajlakshmi Cotton Mills in Noida, India gifted 2,153 employees a personal washing machine to reduce time spent cleaning and improve quality of life.

• Our partners who produce woven fabric items (Connoisseurs Fashion) and their Fair Trade Committee chose to disperse the savings in their Community Development Fund to employees in the form of a extra cash bonus. This benefited over 800 workers.

• The Fair Trade Committee utilized input from the employees at Rajlakshmi Cottom Mills in Howrah, India to deal out scholarships for higher education to the children of employees.

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All in all, we are so excited to be working with Fair Trade USA, the organization who manages and authorizes the use of all Fair Trade Certified goods, and for three main reasons.

1. They are ensuring the baseline requirements for fair pay and safe working conditions are met for all factories producing Fair Trade Certified goods.
2. They help brands like KNOWN SUPPLY integrate social impact into their business at the operational level by requiring the commitment to "doing good" takes place at the beginning of the process through Fair Trade Premiums.
3. They empower and resource garment workers to make decisions for their future that they need most, as opposed to having third party organizations dictate these decisions.

This is the fair trade difference. This is what your purchases are enabling when you shop with us.

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