The ladies slim fit t-shirts and the baby t-shirts are produced by Continental...
"Continental are painstaking in their quest to be a verifiable source of ethical and organic clothing. Audited by the Fair Wear Foundation, you can be sure that their employees work in an ethical work environment. With accreditation by the Soil Association, you can be sure of the status of their organic cotton. (Note - some of these organic cotton products are made from 'Organic Cotton - In Conversion' - by buying them you support farmers making the difficult transition to full organic status. No pesticides will have been used on these products, although there may be traces, reducing by the day, in the soil)."
They go even further with the ladies slim fit t-shirt in particular, which is part of their Earthpositive® brand...
"EarthPositive® is a ‘wholly ethical’ textile brand that is certified under the Global Organic Textile Standard (by Control Union and Soil Association) and by the Fair Wear Foundation for ethical labour practices throughout its supply chain. It is also, crucially, low carbon, having reduced the CO2 and other green-house gases emissions by some 90% through the use of green renewable energy in its production – a claim verified by the Carbon Trust within its pilot carbon-labelling initiative.
100% ORGANIC PRODUCTS
EarthPositive® is a 100% organic product, produced under the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and certified by Control Union and The Soil Association. The certification encompasses the farming, production and distribution, ensuring full traceability of every product. EarthPositive® is free from genetically modified organisms.
FAIR TRADE PRACTICES
Under the organic standard, farmers and agricultural workers are protected by stringent social criteria, total traceability across the entire supply chain, and also by the ban on the use of poisonous chemicals that can severely damage the health of farmers and their families. These standards also free poor farmers from third world debt to chemical companies on the ‘pesticide treadmill’.
JUSTICE FOR WORKERS
To help tackle the social injustice often seen in manufacturing, commonly known as sweatshop labour, EarthPositive® goes further, making transparent the manufacturing supply chain through an independent audit by the Fair Wear Foundation, which promotes fair labour conditions in the clothing industry.
LOW CARBON
EarthPositive® is made in manufacturing facilities in India powered by wind turbines, from low-impact organic cotton, and is distributed through carbon neutral warehouses and offices in that use only renewable green electricity.
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
EarthPositive® is certified by the Oeko-Tex 100 Standard, Class I. The Oeko-Tex Standard is a guarantee of the safety of textiles and dyestuffs to human health and to the environment. It also means we take more care in adopting environmentally friendly production methods throughout the manufacturing process.
LOOK AFTER OUR WATER
The processing of the dye effluent takes place in a controlled closed-loop purification system that uses treatment ponds, sand filtration and reversed osmosis to convert the waste water into clean water.
LOW WATER FOOTPRINT
It can take more than 20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton, equivalent to a single T-shirt and a pair of jeans. That’s why we chose to work in a region that receives up to 95% of its water from the monsoon rain. This was an important consideration for us, as the monsoon rain reduces the need for large-scale irrigation projects normally associated with conventional cotton farming, which often deprive local villages of scarce water resources by draining lakes and rivers.
PICK YOUR COTTON CAREFULLY
We guarantee that we do not use cotton from Uzbekistan while the use of forced child labour is endemic. This follows the recommendations of the Environmental Justice Foundation's ‘Clean Cotton Campaign’. The complete traceability of certified organic cotton allows us to make this guarantee.
TRANSPORTATION
EarthPositive® has ‘No Airfreight’ policy. We use containerized ocean shipping, thus the carbon footprint generated by transporting our apparel to Europe, Japan and the USA is negligible, more like a fingerprint, less than 1% of the total. We cannot solve the world’s transportation and energy security issues, but we can ensure that our own methods do nothing to contribute to environmental damage, social injustice or climate change.
CARBON LABELLING
EarthPositive® apparel has reduced the carbon footprint of a T-shirt by 90%. However, consumers require an independent verification process and a label to confirm the claims of individual companies. The Carbon Trust is trialling such a label with select pilot partners. EarthPositive® was granted the first such label for a textile product. The Carbon Trust's footprinting methodology is to become the single standard for greenhouse gas footprinting."
The unisex t-shirts are produced by StarWorld...
"ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY, ETHICAL FAIR TRADE PRODUCTION IN AFRICA
Starworld from Africa, the supplier of our most popular range recognizes its responsibilities to its workers for the conditions under which it manufactures its clothing. By operating their own production plants, they can guarantee that their clothing products are manufactured to the highest environmental, fair trade and ethical standards. The clothing complies with the Oeko-Tex 100 standard and all garments are manufactured by trained personnel, operating under fair, safe and well paid working conditions.
Starworld's working conditions are independently examined by WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production), a charitable foundation based in the USA promoting humane, ethical, and lawful conditions and practices in manufacturing globally. Starworld's organic t-shirts are certified organic by Skal to the Global Organic Textiles Standard.
STARWORLD ETHICAL POLICY STATEMENT
Starworld recognizes its responsibilities to its workers for the conditions under which it manufactures its products. By operating our own production plants, we guarantee that our clothing products are manufactured to the highest environmental and ethical standards. Our clothing complies with the Oeko-Tex 100 standard and all garments are manufactured by trained personnel, operating under fair, safe and well paid working conditions.
EMPLOYMENT IS FREELY CHOSEN
There is no use of forced labour, slavery, bonded labour or prison labour.
WORKING CONDITIONS
A safe and hygienic working environment is provided.
Adequate measures are taken to prevent accidents and injury to health.
All workers are insured for injuries sustained by accidents during work.
Workers are given safety training.
Physical abuse, the threat of physical abuse, unusual punishments or other harassment is strictly prohibited.
Access to clean toilet facilities, cafeteria and portable water within the factory is provided.
CHILD LABOUR IS NEVER USED
Only workers above the age of 18 years are employed.
WAGES
The wages and benefits paid for a standard working week is at least the minimum required to be paid under the national labour laws.
All workers are covered by the national Social Insurance scheme and the company contributes 60% of the premium paid.
WORKING HOURS
Workers are not allowed to work more than 48 hours per week, in accordance with the national labour laws.
At least one day off is given every week.
Overtime if any, is always voluntary and paid at double the normal wage.
Overtime never exceeds 6 hours a week.
All employees are entitled to 3 weeks holiday per year.
NO DISCRIMINATION
There is no discrimination in hiring, promotion or termination based on race, religion, social background, political views, gender, disability or any other characteristic.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
The rights of all workers to bargain collectively is recognised.
All employees can apply for a higher post within the company, without restriction."
Because we have expanded the range of our products and source them from different suppliers, we are aware that this makes the ethical statements more confusing than before. If you have any questions, you can email us at mail@i-heart-y.co.uk and we'll do our best to try to answer them!