“Maximus” your impact!
Some MPTC Fair Trade Team members showing off their new Alta Gracia Apparel. From left to right, Max, Kevin Rodriguez, Anne Lemke, Melissa Schmidt and Hans Baierl
Did you know you can “Maximus” your impact on people and the planet by being a conscious consumer?
- Americans purchase $20 billion clothing/apparel products each year.
- Almost three quarters of the World’s clothing exports are made in developing countries such as Thailand and Bangladesh.
- Conventionally grown cotton uses more insecticides than any other single crop.
Nearly $2.6 billion worth of pesticides are sprayed on cotton fields each year — accounting for
more than 10% of total pesticide use and nearly 25% of insecticides use worldwide. - Only between 0.5-4% of the final retail cost of a garment reaches the garment worker.
- In 2013, a Bangladesh garment factory collapsed and killed 1,100 workers – one of the deadliest industrial tragedies in world history!
It’s really something to think about. Who made your clothes? Do the companies who make your clothes value people? How about the environment? Does their social responsibility extend across the supply chain from the farmer all the way to you as the consumer?
The Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed on April 24, 2013, killing 1,138 workers and injuring over 2,500 more and bringing the much-needed fashion revolution front-and-center in the news. Since then, people from all over the world are coming together to stand up and demand change in the world of clothes manufacturing.
One of the best ways we can make a difference is through Fair Trade.
Moraine Park is a Fair Trade College. Fair trade supports farmers and artisans in developing countries. These producers lack economic opportunity and often face steep hurdles in finding markets and customers for their goods. Fair Trade is about making a tremendous impact on artisan and farmer communities while offering great products to the public all around the world.
Fair Trade certification promises a high standard including quality products, fair pay for producers, environmentally safe practices, safe working conditions, no child labor, no human trafficking, and more.
All of our Moraine Park bookstores carry Fair Trade apparel from Alta Gracia.
Alta Gracia college clothing is Fair Trade certified to make sure all the workers receive a living wage. A living wage is defined as the income necessary for a worker to meet all of their family’s basic needs. Alta Gracia pays their workers more than 3 times the minimum wage for apparel workers in the Dominican Republic! In addition Alta Gracia respects all the employees’ rights as workers and as human beings, including the right to a safe and healthy workplace, the right to be treated with dignity and respect on the job, and the right to form a union.
“Maximus” your impact! Be a conscious consumer!
Be an agent for change!
Shop Fair Trade!
For more information, visit morainepark.edu.
