One of the most frustrating parts of helping to clean up the global supply chain is the lack of consensus about what it means to be “sweatshop free.”

A couple of examples:

• American Apparel produces all of its products in the United States, opens its factory for public tours, and offers wages and benefits that far surpass the industry norm. On the other hand, A.A. has been accused by some in the labor movement of engaging in an active union-busting campaign and, in fact, A.A. workers are not represented by a union. Is American Apparel sweatshop free?
• Co-op America’s “National Green Pages” are filled with page after page of merchants who “are socially and environmentally responsible in the way they source, manufacture, and market their products and run their offices and factories.” According to who? Well, according to Co-op America. While many if not most of the companies listed in the green pages are acting in good faith when it comes to worker rights, users of the “National Green Pages” are asked to take this on faith. Are all of the Co-op America approved businesses sweatshop free?

These are difficult questions, and because no agreed-upon definition of “sweatshop free” exists, any company can make the claim and hold no legal obligation to prove it. As a result, it can be difficult to know who to trust. 

So where does that leave us?
 

That depends on who you ask, and many of the blog posts under the “What is Sweatshop Free Merchandise” category will offer various perspectives on the question.

As for us, we believe that the best way to establish trust is through comprehensive use of all of the tools available. The more tools a manufacture uses to earn the trust of the socially-conscious consumer, the more trustworthy they become. These tools include codes of conduct, independent monitoring and certification, transparency in business practices, and perhaps most importantly, meaningful worker participation in the form of co-ops and trade unions.

Using these criteria creates a spectrum along which we can begin to place particular manufacturers. While it may never be possible to declare with 100% confidence that a factory is or is not a “sweatshop,” it is both possible and crucial to make judgments based on all the information that’s available.

So, we might place Unionwear ahead of American Apparel on the spectrum because Unionwear workers are unionized. As a result, serious violations of worker rights would very likely be brought to light by the union, whereas such violations might otherwise escape public attention and outcry.