Fair Trade is an alternative economic trading system that empowers farmers by promoting long-term contracts and solidarity-based trade relationships, and by ensuring that they are operate through democratically controlled producer organizations. Fair Trade certification also protects small producers from volatile commodity markets by providing a guaranteed minimum price for most products. Finally, Fair Trade provides a social premium (based on the amount of goods that an organization sells) that is used for local, community driven socio-economic development. Fair Trade certification can be identified by the mark above.

​ To watch a short video on Fair Trade certification, please click here.

There many organic certification bodies which certify a wide range of agricultural products. The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) is recognized as the world's leading processing standard for textiles made from organic fibers. It defines high-level environmental criteria along the entire organic textiles supply chain and requires compliance with social criteria as well. Only textile products that contain a minimum of 70% organic fibers can become GOTS certified. All chemical inputs such as dyestuffs and auxiliaries used must meet certain environmental and toxicological criteria. The choice of accessories is limited in accordance with ecological aspects as well. A functional waste water treatment plant is mandatory for any wet-processing unit involved and all processors must comply with minimum social criteria.

A co-operative is a different kind of business. Co-operatives are member-owned enterprises in which the members have a financial involvement in the business and decide democratically how the business is to be run, on the basis of one member, one vote.  Co-operatives abide by the seven co-operative principles. The apex international co-operative body is the International Co-operative Alliance, while the national apex body in Canada is Cooperatives and MutualsCanada. Each province also has its own co-operative association.

A variety of different types of consumers can be distinguished based up the products the cooperative provides and/or who the members are. There are, for example, agricultural marketing co-operatives (in which farmers are the members), financial services co-operatives (in which depositors are the members), consumer cooperatives (in which customers are the members, worker co-operatives (in which workers are the members) and housing co-operatives (in which the people who live in the accommodations are the members. Other co-operatives involved in Fair Trade in Canada include JustUs Coffee Roasters Co-op in Wolfville, Nova Scotia; La Siembra in Ottawa with its line of Camino chocolate and sugar products; and Planet Bean in Guelph Ontario, which is also a coffee roaster.  

While the issue of whether to support Canadian produced goods vs Fair Trade goods is sometimes raised, in practice it is not really an issue in the case of t-shirts. There are some companies that produce garments in Canada as part of a commitment to maintaining well-paid manufacturing jobs with associated labour rights. Such firms typically only compete in higher-end niche market sectors. The bulk of garment production, especially in lower priced products such as t-shirts, has moved to countries like China, India, and Bangladesh in recent decades. In these emerging markets, most brands are attracted to low prices and less stringent labour regulation. Fair Trade is one concrete way to ensure that workers in these countries receive fair wages and enjoy labour rights, while also providing small producers in these countries a fair price for their cotton along with the other benefits of fair trade relationships.

Unfortunately, there are not standard measurements for clothing in the garment industry. Here you can find the measurements for our unisex cut t-shirts sizes:

In our in-house Direct-to-Garment printing, we use Epson UltraChrome DG ink. This ink has passed the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 specification for human and ecological requirements for class 1 products. It is water-based. Direct to garment printing, is one of the most efficient ways to use ink.

Yes, ours cotton t-shirts, like most cotton t-shirts are vegan. It is true, however, that historically cotton products have not been very sustainable. Indeed, cotton is the crop that annually accounts for the highest amount of chemical pesticide and insecticide application in the world! That's why we buy only organic certified garments from our suppliers.