TEXTILES.ORG
Boll & Branch, Chatham, N.J., has released its 2014 First Half Impact Report, a compendium of the business opportunity and good will resulting from the company’s first six months in business. The vertically integrated, socially conscious company provides premium home textiles made from 100 percent GOTS-certified organic cotton in Fair Trade-certified mills.
It has become one of the fastest-growing brands in the entire home textiles industry. The new bedding brand sold thousands of sets of organic cotton sheets under the premise that Fair Trade costs are a moral obligation that shouldn’t be passed on to the customer, as well as by accepting a 50-60 percent margin, versus the 400-600 percent markup that is customary among leading textile brands. This business model enables the customer to actually pay less than they would for designer products that may not maintain acceptable ethical and environmental standards.
Through their first six months of sales, the new company supported 5,394 people globally in these ways:
- Paid Fair Trade-certified cotton prices to support 836 organic cotton farmers and their families in India
- Farmers earned 15-20 percent higher pay
- Farmers were able to sustain organic cotton farming, reducing health risks and costs associated with pesticides
- Farming cooperatives invested the premiums paid for cotton back into the community
- Supported 250 mill workers with:
- Fair wages and medical insurance for all members of their families
- Hot meals, round trip transportation, and only eight-hour work days
- GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard)-certified safe and sanitary factory conditions
- Provided 4,308 rescued victims of human trafficking with a day and night of shelter, food, education and hope through their partnership with Not For Sale.