Fairtrade & Vegan
Fairness across the board.
GARY MASH® has been a Fairtrade licensee since 2013 and has upheld the associated standards ever since. These standards are developed by the umbrella organization Fairtrade International, or FLO for short. FLO-Cert, the independent certification and monitoring body within Fairtrade, is responsible for monitoring compliance with these standards in practice. Within the Fairtrade International corporate structure, the Fairtrade Austria association, founded in 1993, handles marketing, information, and public relations and awards the Fairtrade seal to fairly traded products.
All of Fairtrade’s business units share the common goal of improving the lives of all farmers and workers in the producing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
What are the Fairtrade Standards?
The Fairtrade Reserve helps farmers families to cover the costs of sustainable production. It depends on the different cotton qualities and cultivation regions. If the local market price is above the fairtrade reserve price, the higher price must be paid. The Fairtrade minimum price for organic cotton is higher than that for conventionally grown cotton.
In addition to the Fairtrade Minimum Price, the buyer must pay a Fairtrade premium of 5 cents per kilogram of Fairtrade cotton. Producers use this premium for joint projects, such as educational, health or infrastructure projects.
Fairtrade stands for strict environmental standards to protect the health and safety of smallholder families, conserve nature and ban genetically modified seeds and hazardous chemicals. The smallholder families are also committed to the most efficient use of water in cultivation. In addition, if organic cotton is purchased, an organic surcharge will be paid for the goods.
Fairtrade cotton comes exclusively from small-scale farmers who either democratically merge into cooperatives or produce cotton in contract farming. They pass on their cotton to a company that resells the cotton for them and must also comply with the Fairtrade standards. This company is responsible for passing on the proceeds from the sale of Fairtrade cotton to the farmers.
Fairtrade prohibits exploitative child labor and forced labor and considers the International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions as the relevant standards on child labor. Wherever there is a risk of exploitative child labor or child labor being discovered, the measures resulting from these principles must be applied. The successes of fair trade show that measures to strengthen producer families through fairer pay and education for children can help to eliminate child labor and to improve the living conditions of entire families in the long term.
All stakeholders in the wider supply chain are required to provide evidence of compliance with the ILO Core Labor Standards. This applies to all steps of further processing such as gutting, spinning, dyeing, knitting, weaving, finishing. If there is no proof, FLOCERT will take over the inspection.
Where do GARY MASH® textiles come from?
The majority of the women’s and men’s clothing in our online shop is produced exclusively for our GARY MASH® label. The textile production facility is located in Tiruppur, in southern India. Renewable energy from photovoltaics powers the production process.
Through Fairtrade, our production team supports various social initiatives. These include, for example, a mobile hospital that provides workers with free preventative checkups, medication, and treatments. Another initiative is a free eye exam program, where approximately 1,000 people are examined annually and receive glasses and medication as needed. We also support a children’s school, established in 1999, which provides children with free education, transportation to school, books, and more. Yes, even yoga classes are offered to company employees.
And much more.
We have visited the production site regularly to personally verify the Fairtrade standards.
Why vegan?
We are one of Austria’s largest online shops, and we offer a completely vegan product range. You might be wondering: Why vegan?
For us, people, the environment, and animals are all interconnected. Because they are all part of a larger whole, and everything belongs together. One cannot exist without the others.
Our entire product range is vegan. We don’t want our products to harm people, the environment, or animals. This means that none of our products have been tested on animals or contain any animal-derived ingredients.
Furthermore, we prioritize sustainability and fair production in all our products. What materials are used? Where and how are the products manufactured?
Only if these aspects are transparent and align with our philosophy is a product included in our range!