While it is important to work with people you know and trust, when it comes to the critical issue of social standards, monitoring is essential.  Recently, Henrik Lindholm of the Dutch Fair Wear Foundation joined us at hessnatur.

Since 2005, we have worked with FWF to improve working conditions at our production sites worldwide.  We subscribe to and follow the standards of the International Labour Organization to guarantee:

1. employment is freely chosen
2. no discrimination in employment
3. no exploitation of children
4. freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining
5. payment of a living wage
6. no excessive working hours
7. safe and healthy working conditions
8. legally binding employment contracts

Henrik spent the day with us evaluating our monitoring system.  He is pictured on the right, next to Rolf Heimann, the head of Innovation and Ecology at hessnatur.  The questions we dealt with included implementing social standards at production sites, discussing improvements, identifying our most important suppliers and the countries where production takes place, our production strategy and how we communicate our cooperation with Fair Wear Foundation.  We also discussed who visits the manufacturers and who decides which suppliers to work with.

Making certain that we practice the highest social standards is part of the hessnatur mission.  So, we don’t only rely on our own good judgment or even the trust we’ve established with long time suppliers.  We count on our association with FWF to help us monitor our processes.   Every day we look for ways to improve.  And we have the partners to help us achieve that goal.

As awareness of organic cotton grows, the impact of organizations dedicated to promoting it become more visible.  The World Congress of Organic Cotton takes place this year from September 21-24 in Interlaken, Switzerland.  It is part of the United Nations declaring 2009 the Year of Natural Fibres.

The theme of the Congress, “From Fashion to Sustainability” identifies the profound change that is happening in the fashion world.  No longer is fashion just “clothing of the moment”, instead  it plays a critical role is determining the health of our environment.

The Congress, sponsored by the Swiss NGO, Helvetas, has asked our CEO, Wolf Luedge, to deliver a keynote address regarding communicating and marketing sustainable and ecological fashion.

Everyone involved in the textile chain – from growing through manufacturing – will be part of the Congress.  Business leaders, technical experts, project managers, CSR and marketing specialists will be working together to identify solutions and innovations for cotton.

Cotton is the leading fiber grown worldwide.  Yes, it is natural, but that doesn’t mean it’s sustainable.  When conventional cotton is grown, tons of pesticides and other chemicals are used.  They not only harm the soil and the water, they also can destroy the health of the farmers and their families.  Fair Trade organic cotton represents only a tiny fraction of the worldwide cotton market.

Continuing to raise awareness of the importance of wearing organic cotton and other fibers is critical to our future.  The Congress provides a forum for all those who are committed to this goal.  We are all looking forward to it.

During our holidays in March, Steffi and I traveled  from Thailand to Bangladesh to spend some days in the capital Dhaka. There we visited Grameen Knitwear, the textile factory belonging to the Grameen Foundation of Dr. Muhammad Yunus, recipient of the Noble peace prize 2006. Since 2008 hessnatur has produced the “Grameen Tee”, made from 100 % organic cotton, produced under fair working conditions and designed by our Creative Director, Miguel Adrover.

Before flying to Asia Steffi and I bought our “The world in your hand” tee at the hessnatur store in Butzbach, which we wore as a matter of course when visiting Grameen Knitwear.

Grameen Knitwear is located around 10 miles outside Dhaka. To get there we were picked up by Alam. Alam works in the sales department at Grameen Knitwear. Together with his colleague Pijush he’s in charge of the hessnatur tees. “Oh, that’s my production!” called Alam when seeing Steffi and me with our “The world in your hand” tees.

When driving to the factory Alam started talking about Grameen Knitwear. All employees are proud of their corporate culture. This starts with the working conditions. The working hours are regulated, the payment is much more than the minimum wage in Bangladesh. Minimum wage for workers in the textile industry in Bangladesh is 1650 Taka a month. 85 Taka are approximately $1.20. So a worker has around about $23 every month for food, housing and the other necessities of life.

The wage at Grameen starts at 3500 Taka a month. For us in the USA or Germany this amount wouldn’t be sufficient for a month. But the living conditions in Bangladesh are quite different, which means that wages of about $ 50 a month is adequate. Every employee at Grameen Knitwear gets a salary increase after 6 months working in the factory.

Twice a year Grameen Knitwear invites all employees to a meeting with the Managament Board (with Dr. Yunus as chairman) to inform everyone about the current business at Grameen Knitwear. At Grameen, the employees are not just workers, they are valued associates of the company.  This is an important change in their lives.  Not only are they paid above a living wage and treated fairly, they are given greater respect by being informed about the business of Grameen Knitwear.

In the last few weeks I’ve screened a lot of interesting blogs regarding the relevance of organic textiles and read comments from many people who like them.  I discovered a very interesting article, which asks a question I’ve heard many times: “Why is Eco Fashion so expensive?”

I’ve also heard from people (including friends), “The clothing from hessnatur is great looking, but much too expensive!”.  An article on treehugger.com answered this in relation to all organic clothing about as well as any I have seen.

1. Time and effort is money
It may seem counterintuitive that sustainable crops such as organic cotton, free from the trappings of GMO, chemical pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers, would actually cost more to grow, but the truth of the matter is that these toxic shortcuts are precisely what enables farmers to keep their costs down. Harvesting organic cotton is also more labor intensive because it’s done without the use of chemical defoliation aids.

2. Fair is fair
A point of pride for many American eco labels is that their goods are manufactured locally in the United States, or at least fairly in an overseas facility that doles out what constitutes a living wage for its workers. Most companies, especially those without the supply-chain muscle of big-box stores, would be hard-pressed to price their garb inexpensively without resorting to grossly underpaid minions in a factory in Bangladesh. It’s unrealistic to expect something to be cheap, equitable, and well-made—something’s gotta give. If you pick up an unbelievable steal, you can bet your bottom dollar that someone down—way down—the line is paying for those savings. And it’s not Mister CEO in the fancy pinstripe suit and the corner office.

3. Don’t pick on the little guy
It’s all about economies of scale. While the organic market continues to grow and thrive, it’s still a small slice of the overall consumer-spending pie. Inventory-wise, the volume of goods produced is also infinitesimally smaller compared to what mass-market manufacturers churn out on a daily basis, which makes everything from marketing to shipping less cost-effective. On the plus side, sustainable products tend to be better crafted, which makes for longer life spans than the majority of disposable clothing and accessories you can get on the cheap at artificially depressed prices (see sweatshop labor, industry clout, etc.)

4. Sometimes stuff, eco or conventional, just costs more
For every pair of cheap $3.50 thongs you can buy at Kmart, you have $895 satin sandals by Christian Louboutin, yet you don’t see angry mobs with torches and pitchforks amassing outside Hermès or Givenchy. While perceived cachet is sometimes a factor, especially when it comes to luxury goods, often it’s also a matter of quality versus quantity. And because most eco fashion falls under the technical definition of “couture,” with extreme attention to detail and handcrafted techniques, it’s only fair—there’s that word again—to expect to pay a price commiserate to the effort involved in the item’s making.

I agree with everything, except point 4. hessnatur isn’t a “luxury” brand.  It represents good value. Even more important, it represents fair value.  There is never any additional cost to our customers. To some that may be a luxury.  But, at hessnatur, we believe that protecting the planet and its people should be a priority in everything we do – including the way we do business.  Will our clothes be the least expensive you can buy?  Actually, yes.  When you consider the price you pay when you neglect the earth.