Want the lowdown on how our fair trade, organic t-shirts are made? We wrote a post here about the lovely farms our cotton comes from. Today we want to show you more about the mill which takes that fluffy cotton and turns out luxurious quality t-shirts – all the while maintaining the strictest fair trade principles.
Rajlakshmi Cotton Mills is one of India’s leading sustainable textile companies that not only produces quality products but observes the highest social, economic and environmental standards. It is organic and fair trade certified. No child labour, no forced labour, no discrimination.
At the mill, employees receive a living wage that is approximately 20-50% above the legal minimum wage, with regular increments and an annual bonus that is not performance-related. Workers receive paid holiday leave, medical insurance, sick pay, overtime at double the normal wage and a retirement pension fund plan, as well as subsidised meals and free transport. Employees are free to join trade unions. All children of the mill workers receive free schooling. These benefits and more have resulted in a high level of worker satisfaction and a low employee turnover of approximately 2% per year.
So what happens when the cotton from Chetna that is destined to become a batch of No Nasties t-shirts reaches Kolkata? First, it is spun into yarn, which then gets knitted into the supersoft fabric lengths that No Nasties fans rave about. The fabric is checked for quality and then dyed to our technicolour specifications using eco-friendly, water-based dyes that are Global Organic Textiles Standard (GOTS) approved. After being washed and checked once again for colour consistency, the fabric is stacked and then cut into the pattern pieces of our t-shirt shapes that have been tweaked to perfection.
The cut pieces are then hand-printed, again using eco-friendly inks, bringing to life the artwork of our talented designer community – a group of incredibly skilled individuals who all believe in the power of good through design.
After printing, the fabric pieces are sewn together and voilà! The t-shirt is born. It is carefully finished, checked, then securely packed up. The super sexy tees make their way to No Nasties HQ where they are waiting eagerly for you to give them a loving home. For every purchase, the farmers get more, the factory workers get more and you support brands like us who are trying to make a difference - all in return for buying an awesome t-shirt.
Not a bad deal :)