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morning (presumably). Choosing Fair Trade is a way to channel those small, everyday choices into something meaningful. Every time you buy something, you’re casting a vote for the world you want to live in. PATAGONIA: Patagonia was one of the first apparel brands to join the Fair Trade USA Factory Certification program for Apparel and Home Goods. And to date, we have the most Fair Trade Certified products in that category. What impact have we had on the growth of the program itself? FAIR TRADE USA: In 2014, Patagonia became an early adopter and champion of the Fair Trade program in factories. Since then, it’s been a trailblazer. Starting with one Fair Trade Certified™ factory in one country, it now supports 29 Fair Trade programs in 10 countries. Today, through Patagonia’s business, over 49,200 people receive benefits of the Fair Trade program, and Patagonia products have sent millions of dollars in premiums back to the communities that made them. Beyond this, Patagonia’s partnership has paid its own invisible dividends, such as raising consumer awareness about the Fair Trade program and setting an example to its industry peers that business success and doing good are not mutually exclusive. Because of this, we see more consumers looking for the Fair Trade Certified label while shopping for their clothes and gear, and more brands asking questions about the program.
Making Headway on Living Wages Partnering with Fair Trade USA is our first step toward paying workers who make Patagonia products a living wage. It’s a great start, and for now it’s the most direct way of getting more money into workers’ pockets. But we need to find a permanent solution to ensure all workers who make our clothing earn a living wage. We’re making headway. In last year’s update on this topic, we talked about two big issues preventing progress on living wages: the lack of an agreed-upon definition for living wage, and the fuzzy notion of what amount might constitute a living wage in disparate locales. Since then, the Global Living Wage Coalition—a group of nonprofits and experts—has achieved consensus on a definition, while the Fair Labor Association has compiled publicly available living-wage benchmarks. Here at Patagonia, we’ve also finished collecting and analyzing detailed wage data from the contract factories that make our products, which has given us a much clearer picture of what they’re paying their workers. The good news is, we’re in better shape than we thought. Based on our initial analysis, our apparel suppliers pay at least 81 percent of the living wage, with 18 percent of them paying above the living wage. This is something we’ll continue to monitor and validate over time, but we’re headed in the right direction. We’ve also confirmed something we’ve long known—that by placing predictable orders with our suppliers, they are better able to pay their workers a living wage. Factories whose orders fluctuate from season to season have a bigger gap between actual wages and living wages. Responsible purchasing practices are key to realizing our goal of paying a living wage, and also a key principle of our Fair Labor Association accreditation.
Working for a more equitable global trade model that benefits
We’re feeling good about the progress we’ve made and will continue our work. We’re also happy to report that we’re seeing a growing number of other brands also making Fair Trade clothing, thereby paying even more workers a premium for their labor and getting them closer to a living wage.
people, industry and the earth, Fair Trade USA’s Amy Blyth, Allison Fite and Desta Raines. MICHAEL ESTRADA
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