Fair Trade Innovates! In a Thousand Small Ways Every Day

May 11, 2019

Fair Trade Innovates! In a Thousand Small Ways Every Day

We're celebrating World Fair Trade Day today.  This year's theme is Fair Trade Innovates. We recognize that innovations come in every manner, big and small, throughout not only a fair trade supply chain, but in the people's lives supported by fair trade.  

A fair trade value chain in the garment industry means each person is getting a living wage and able to feed and take care of their family.  This should be the norm, but in our world it is often only the norm within fair trade.  Once someone knows their livelihood is taken care of, they can plan for the future and make all the small day to day improvements for their family.  Our cutting master for example, can send his kids to a better quality school and make sure his daughter receives the same quality education as his son.  

When a person feels safe and supported in the work environment, they can work better, with more focus and improve their skills.  We take pride in training our tailors for instance, to make a garment start to finish and avoid assembly line production.  This means their skill set is improved, the feeling of job satisfaction, participation in the process, critical thinking skills and opportunities for job advancement.  

When workers have a chance to try out new ideas, techniques, are free to make suggestions and discuss as a team, creative innovations come about.

We had a stressful situation where we had a couple hundred meters of damaged fabric that we didn't want to throw away, but couldn't use for a manufacturing order.  Our block printing master put together a color palette that coordinated with the fabric color, choose several of our existing block prints and printed over the damaged fabric which masked the problems and ended up creating a very attractive new design which looked great and was not only usable, but looked good.  As we do both custom manufacturing and our own brand, we were able to use the fabric and develop a capsule collection just for this fabric--problem solved in a very innovative way!  And zero waste!

Our block printing master, along with our management team also recently came up with some fantastic innovations on our water filtration system.  We had run a crowd funding campaign and raised money for a new water filtration system for the wash water for our block printing unit.  We had looked at many models, talked with engineers and were in the end, frustrated with the overly technical, overly chemicalized (when it's the chemicals we are trying to move away from!), not user-friendly ETP systems (effluent treatment plants) we were seeing in the commercial/industrial market. 

Instead, we went back to the drawing board, did our own research and  designed a simpler, artisan friendly system at a fraction of the cost.  Then while building the artisan-friendly/earth-friendly system, our printer and management team took a hands-on approach and  became personally involved in the construction.  By this point, they understood each step of the process clearly and made a series of small innovations which made the system better, more energy efficient, easier to use and more scalable.  The moment of truth came when we got the system up and running and they immediately started explaining to artisans from other units how to build it for themselves!  

We have countless small examples over the years of ways in which our artisan team at Mehera Shaw have come up with great ideas, solved problems, found new and more effective methods of manufacture.  Ways our company has pooled our resources and been able to help workers with micro loans for their children's education, new houses to be built, medical emergencies. As a company, we've gone to the wedding for our worker's children, sisters, brothers.  We've celebrated births, graduations, marriages, new vehicles.  It is the respect, fair labor standards and team work that make this possible.  

Fair Trade innovates--in a thousand small ways every day!

#fairtrade #fairtradeinnovates #WFTD2019 #makeinindia




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Fit/Sizing/Care

FIT

Our styles are meant to give room to breath and move.  We use fine tailoring coupled with a relaxed, comfortable fit.

We use a fit guide for each of our styles to provide more information about the fit that was intended.

Slim Fit: a close fit to the body. Regular Fit: a comfortable, relaxed fit with room around the body. Generous Fit: a very loose fit (such as in our oversized blouses) with lots of room around the body for ease of movement.

SIZING

h4XS/ 36

h4S/ 38

h4M/40

h4L/ 42

h4XL/44

h4chest

h435.5 inches/ 90 cm

h437.5 inches/95 cm

h439.5 inches/ 100 cm

h441.5 inches/ 105 cm

h444.5 inches. 113 cm

h44cm extra from body

h4waist

h426 inches/ 66 cm

h428 inches/ 71 cm

h430 inches/ 76 cm

h432 inches/ 81 cm

h435 inches/ 89 cm

h4fitted

h4low waist

h428 inches/71 cm

h430 inches/76 cm

h432 inches/ 81 cm

h434 inches/ 86 cm

h437 inches/ 94 cm

h4fitted

h4hip

h437 inches/ 94 cm

h439 inches/ 99 cm

h441 inches/ 104 cm

h443 inches/ 109 cm

h446 inches/ 1

h44cm extra from body

WASHCARE

All garments have been washed several times during the printing/dyeing and manufacturing process.  

CARE for 100% cotton

We recommend cold water machine wash (up to 30 degrees celsius) with a bio detergent and either tumble dry on low heat or line dry in shade for all of our 100% cotton garments/homewares (except for quilts).  

Iron on reverse side of garment following fabric settings.  

Do not use bleach or stain remover.

Cold water wash and low heat drying or line drying in the shade will increase the life of the garment, prolong the vibrancy of the colors and reduce energy use. Shrinkage on all cottons is minimal, approximately 3%.

Garments/homewares are dyed or printed using AZO free, low-impact, pigment or reactive dyes unless otherwise noted.  These dyes are color-fast, but care should still be taken to wash with like colors to retain the vibrancy of the colors.

CARE for 100% cotton quilts

For quilts with cotton fill, we recommend spot or light surface cleaning only with a damp cloth and mild detergent.  Eco-friendly dry cleaning is also recommended. 

CARE for herbal/vegetable dye items

Vegetable dyes are not colorfast and are specifically marked in the product description.  We strongly recommend that all vegetable dye products be washed once before use in a cold water wash with minimal detergent.  Wash separately. Tumble dry on low heat or line dry in shade.  Iron on reverse side.  Do not use bleach or stain remover.

Please keep in mind that indigo dye does continually fade over time.  This is the nature of true indigo dye and is not a defect, but rather a sign of the 'living' nature of the dye.

CARE for silk and cotton/silk

For our silk and cotton silk garments/homewares, we also recommend gentle cycle machine wash cold water (up to 30 degrees celsius) or delicate hand washing to increase the life of the garment and reduce the environmental footprint from energy use, detergents and water wastage.  

Tumble dry on low heat or line dry in shade.  

Iron on reverse side of garment following fabric settings.

Do not use bleach or stain remover.

Dry cleaning using an eco-friendly service is also recommended.

CARE for linen and cotton/linen

For our linen and cotton linen garments/homewares, we also recommend gentle cycle machine wash cold water (up to 30 degrees celsius) or delicate hand washing to increase the life of the garment and reduce the environmental footprint from energy use, detergents and water wastage.  

Tumble dry on low heat or line dry in shade.  

Iron on reverse side of garment following fabric settings.

Do not use bleach or stain remover.