You may wonder, why check on social standards in Lithuania when, as a member of the European Union, the standards should be exceptional.  But, as we say at hessnatur, trust is good, but checking is better.  Even in Germany and the U.S. there can be social grievances.  So everywhere that hessnatur has a supplier must be audited.

We blogged about the The Fair Wear  Foundation Members’ Day recently held in Amsterdam.  If you’d like to see excerpts from the event, including Stefanie Karl, who is responsible for social standards at hessnatur, take a look at the video.  Enjoy watching!

There’s been a great song roaming the airwaves for awhile in Germany from the Fanta 4. The chorus hips and hops, ‘It could all be so easy – but it isn’t’. Just like real life. I was talking to a guy from Switzerland on the flight over to Nepal, who has known Kathmandu since 1969 and lives there now. According to his own recollections, barely 40 automobiles rambled through the Kathmandu Valley back in the day (now it feels like 40 cars per square meter). I wish I had a time machine. That must have been paradise. And now, here I am in the middle of the city, up to my ankles in filth and dust, not wondering at all where my headaches are coming from in the midst of all the exhaust.

But the guy from Switzerland still keeps coming back, and I do as well. In this country full of contradiction, people live unwilling to take responsibility for others, or even themselves. And yet the same people are capable of living with the adversity around them with surprising serenity. I could use a slice of their patience, take it with me as a souvenir. Hari, the production coordinator at New SADLE, told me on the way top the project that the Nepalese would be better off with no government at all (like the short time between the end of the monarchy and the forming of the government which replaced it). The political conditions, in other words, the government’s complete incapacity for action, is impressive to say the least.

Extremely adverse conditions, as well as considerable lack of individual initiative, pull this country ever deeper into poverty. But then the more refreshing it is when I do see initiative. Like the formidable strength of spirit of Meera Batarai, who has been successfully coordinating women’s cooperatives here for years.

Or like my friends at New SADLE, with whom I had an intensive conversation about numbers today. New SADLE’s concept is cyclic. From its own workshops, products are made which are, for the most part, sold overseas. The income finances the nursing home, kindergarten, and roadside clinic (I’ll get to that one later). The cycle would be complete if the workshop’s profits were enough to pay the running costs of the project (which our colleague Steffi Karl would point out to be an ideal example of Social Business).

There is a considerable deficit, however, which a German development association covers by soliciting donations and sending monthly to contributions to Kathmandu for medicine and medical professionals, among other things. I have worked with this association, Nepra e.V., for years. It started for me when I was flown over as a consultant to work on optimizing their dyes ecologically. Since then we have worked together continually, improving quality, as well as implementing respectable quality assurance systems. I’m really proud of how my colleagues in Nepal have applied these systems. With this level of quality, they could also produce Pashmina shawls, silk scarves, top quality pillow cases, and other goods for hessnatur.

Today I’m quite satisfied. Perhaps you’ve noticed, I’ve hardly moaned at all. Hari and I have met with a producer of banana fiber! Brilliant! The fiber is mechanically gleaned from the stumps of the banana plants, which no longer grow after harvest. Then it is boiled, conditioned, and spun into a yarn resembling wild silk. It looks very promising. Knit and crochet tests are in the works. Who knows, maybe it’ll work, and hessnatur would have yet another innovation to offer (and my boss could give me a Sunday off  )

On March 19^th, the Fair Wear Foundation hosted a Members’ Day in Amsterdam.  Every year all the members of the Fair Wear Foundation gather to discuss social standards in the supply chain and share ways to improve our work.

The topic this year was best practices of the FWF member companies.  All 45 members were asked to submit their best practice.  Then the members voted on which one they considered the best of the best.  Since companies were chosen to present their entries, one of which was hessnatur.

Our presentation focused on the computerized management system we created that includes all the data of hessnatur suppliers regarding social standards.  Each supplier is then ranked by its individual performance in implementing findings from the social audits.  This ranking furthers our transparency as it lets us work closely and more effectively with our suppliers to improve and assure the highest social standards.

After the presentations, hessnatur was voted the best of the best!  All members found that hessnatur had created the most impressive way to improve social standards in the supply chain.

We are proud to be a part of the Fair Wear Foundation, working in tandem with other companies that share our goals and our commitment.  To have them chose hessnatur as the best of the best was an honor indeed.

I first introduced you to Ouba Montadi from Burkina Faso in my post about our visit to our organic farming project (Visiting the Fields of White Gold).  Ouba is a farmer from the village of Fuanliedi.

Ouba told me, “it’s special that no chemicals are used.  It is an organic field and we do not use any chemical fertilizers.  We use a natural plant-based manure from beginning to end.”

In May, Ouba begins the planting process. It is important to begin putting the seeds in the earth before the first rain.  The rainy season usually begins in June and lasts until September or, at the latest, the beginning of October.  This is the cotton growth season.  The growth is dependent on rain, since there is no artificial watering system in these fields.  During that time, Ouba and the other farmers weed and add organic manure, created from plant extracts.  At the end of the rainy season, the West African sun dries the cotton fields.  “That’s when the cotton plants begin blooming and we start to harvest,” says Ouba.

Ouba and the other farmers – many of them women – pick the mature cotton blossoms. Bunches of the finest raw cotton then dry naturally between the small round houses and compounds inhabited by the farmers and their families.  This is the first step in creating beautiful, sustainable hessnatur apparel.

As the Project Manager for Social Standards at hessnatur, each year, with my colleagues, Rolf Heimann, Director of Innovation and Ecology and Maren Moennich, I invite the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF), the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), IG Metall (IGM) and the hessnatur workers’ representative to meet together to discuss how to improve social standards along the supply chain.  We were joined this year by HempAge, the second German apparel company to become a member of the Fair Wear Foundation.

Each of us is a stakeholder in ethical working conditions in the supply chain.  We all care about the same issue, but come at it from different perspectives.  FWF audits social standards. CCC campaigns for fair working conditions in the textile industry. IGM is a German labor union which supports the rights of sewers in production facilities.  HempAge specializes in ecological and ethically correct hemp fabrics.

During this important meeting, we exchanged information on our achievements during the past year and discussed what we are currently involved in.  Since hessnatur has worldwide operations, our discussions are wide-ranging.  Are working conditions in Poland the same as in the Czech Republic?  What are the challenges when discussing social issues with our suppliers?  How can we be assured that sewers as well as management are aware of the guidelines of the International Labor Organization?  What experiences have we had with our suppliers at the production sites?

One day seemed much too short to cover all of our topics adequately.  In March I will be traveling to Turkey, and later to Poland and Lithuania.  Meanwhile, teams from FWF will audit hessnatur production sites in Thailand, China, Bulgaria and Macedonia.  Inspection reports will follow.  Until then, you can read about what I have been doing in the past year.  Our annual social report, 2009, has just been published on the hessnatur corporate site.

At hessnatur, we’ve always taken pride in the long and excellent relationships we have with our suppliers.  But, our trust is based on more than good feelings. We closely monitor the factories that produce hessnatur products with on-site inspections to assess the implementation of hessnatur social standards. We call it “The hessnatur Screen”.  Every process, including safety standards and employment contracts, is inspected in detail. We even look for the correct installation of fire extinguishers.

Factory inspections help identify areas in need of improvement. A Corrective Action Plan – CAP – is drawn up on the basis of the audit report, whether the report relates to an audit performed by the Fair Wear Foundation or an inspection conducted by hessnatur. The CAP compiles a list of improvements that must be implemented at a factory.  We then work with our suppliers to create solutions for each problem.  These include a clear time schedule with deadlines. The supplier submits regular reports on the status of implementation and documents their progress.  Follow-up inspections take place on site, either by an FWF audit team or by a member of the hessnatur staff.

The full implementation of social standards in a factory can take several months or even years, depending on the prevailing conditions in the respective country of manufacture. If the factory has problems with implementation, hessnatur provides assistance and support in order to achieve ethically correct working conditions.

We work closely with our suppliers at the point of production. The only way we are certain that the hessnatur monitoring is effective is with face-to-face contact. An environment of mutual goals and mutual trust is the best way to achieve success.

Having a totally transparent textile chain may sound easy, but believe me, it isn’t.  When you are transparent, it means you must pay complete attention to every aspect of your production process.  This is a particular challenge in the sewing phase, because sewing is very labor intensive, with relatively little automation.  This puts the working conditions in the sewing factories at a substantial risk.

hessnatur controls and monitors the social standards in the sewing factories.  Our monitoring system is in accordance with the internationally recognized Fair Wear Foundation.

1. We inform our suppliers what our social standards are.  Our code of conduct, written in the local language, must be prominently displayed at the work site, so it’s clear to the sewers, not just the management.
2. Social standards are not at the discretion of our suppliers.  We inform them in detail, work with them on implementation to ensure ethical working conditions and insist on compliance.  Suppliers must provide comprehensive information relating to the conditions of the site.
3. We provide workers contact details for the Fair Wear Foundation in order to safeguard the social standards by providing them an impartial contact outside the factory in case problems arise.
4. Audits are performed by the Fair Wear Foundation, other independent experts and hessnatur specialists.  The selection of factories for inspection focuses primarily on those in critical countries, paying special attention to our key suppliers.  These factory inspections oversee both work safety and factory documentation: employment contracts, wage settlements, insurance documentation and hourly work records.  Audits by the FWF also include interviews with the workers.
5. All this data is collected in our specially developed computer management system in order to ensure transparency throughout the entire supply chain.  The data management also lets us continue to develop sustainable solutions for ethical working conditions.  This is a critical step in caring for workers.

If you care about what your clothes are made of, but haven’t paid much attention to how they’re made, you should.  It’s why we believe – and practice – at hessnatur, clothes are more than what you wear, they’re how you choose to live.

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At hessnatur we believe that good citizenship is good business.  Because of this, our ecological standards are fundamental to the way we do business.  But just as important are our social standards.

As a starting point we are a member of the internationally active Fair Wear Foundation, which consists of trade union representatives, NGOs and manufacturers’ associations.  FWF monitors where and how we conduct ourselves with everyone who works for us.

For every supplier, we have a code of conduct for social standards.  These are based on the standards defined by the International Labor Organization that govern the working conditions in all supplier operations.  Simply stated, they are:

• Voluntary employment
• No discrimination in employment
• No child labor
• Respect of the freedom of association and the right to collective wage negotiations
• Payment of a living wage
• No excessive working hours
• Decent working conditions
• Employment relationship

Where there is a difference between hessnatur standards and those of the local government, the more stringent regulations always prevail.

Sometimes local laws contradict hessnatur standards.  For example, some countries impose restrictions on trade unions.  When that exists, we work closely with the Fair Wear Foundation to identify alternative solutions and work to achieve our goals.  When trade union freedom is the issue, “workers’ training” meetings are conducted by FWF experts.  The workers are informed of their rights and ways to assert those rights are explored.  We also install in-house complaint systems to encourage greater dialogue between workers and management.

Achieving the rights that every human being should be able to take for granted can be difficult and complex.  Certainly it would be easier to business without our commitment.  But it wouldn’t be right.  At hessnatur we consider ourselves citizens of the world and take very seriously our responsibility to care for each other.

Lindsay Seligman, a California artist and designer, deeply committed to the green movement won the hessnatur/Planet Green Eco-Tee Design Challenge with a simple and eloquent design.  “It was easy for me to relate to hessnatur’s vision and create a design for them.  The structure and heart of their business helps to alleviate some of what I feel are the biggest issues facing most industrial practices of today”, Lindsay said.  Her winning design, “…a bird, cat, fish, butterfly, frog and human all interconnected and drawn by a single line to represent our connection to one another” moved voters and judges alike to pick hers to be manufactured and sold by hessnatur.  “The phrase ‘One Life’ has a double meaning to remind us that we are all a part of one life and that we have this one life to make a difference”, she commented.

Lindsay, a graduate of Scripps College in Claremont, California has also participated in many green and socially responsible activities.  “I volunteer creating cheerful mosaic tile floors for a school in Mexico and soon I will be participating in an internship constructing off-the-grid houses in Texas.  I hope to continue to open people’s eyes to how precious the balance of nature is and how our actions matter.”

On being chosen as the winner of the Eco-Tee Design Challenge, Lindsay stated, “hessnatur not only helps make a difference through environmentally responsible production, they are socially responsible, too.  It is an honor that my design was picked and I hope funds from the shirt bring education and opportunities to the students in Bangladesh.

Congratulations to Lindsay, a fine designer and a remarkable young person!