Ethical suppliers

This page is a list of ethical suppliers which provide fairtrade and/or organic materials and fabrics for making clothing. If additional contributors wish to add non-ethical companies, it is my wish, although non-binding, that there be the strict distinction between the ethical and non-ethical supplier.

Companies to avoid

Company name	Reason to avoid	Evidence
Brother	All machinery in China or Vietnam. Poor working conditions. Health & Safety concerns. Overtime enforcement / abuse.	SACOM
Pfaff	Planning/planned to shut down Swedish facility to move to a facility in Shanghai. Grand statement of wonderful expansion for company, wide loss of jobs for workers exported to country with cheap workers.	Pfaff PressRoom

Gray areas

Company name	Why a gray area?	Evidence
Bernina	Parts for machinery produced in Thailand production arm.	Company profile
Janome / Elna	Has a majority of its production in Japan, but also has arms in Thailand and Taiwan.	Company profile
Juki	Minor issue; seems celebratory of companies in Pakistan working for super-cheap American retailers, and thus, super-cheap wages and conditions.	Juki Magazine Article
Jaguar/Frister & Rossman	Has half of production within equitable areas, the rest in China and Vietnam.	Jaguar Company Information
Husqvarna	Has a fraction of production within China and Vietnam, has a decent amount of production within Sweden and Austria.	Husqvarna Group Portfolio
Singer	Has half of production within equitable areas, the rest in China and Vietnam.	Part of SVP company.

Inconclusive

Company name	Why inconclusive?	Evidence
Feiyue	Seems to have labour unions, no records of labour abuses. However, no evidence found of investigations into labour, not much public info. More research needed.	Company funding profile

Verified Ethical suppliers

Fabric/Thread

Company name	Country	International Shipping?	Union?	Organic?	Fair trade?	General cost
RayStitch	UK	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Reasonable
Organic Cotton	UK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Reasonable
Greenfibers	UK	Contact only	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Expensive
Hemp Fabric UK	UK	Contact only	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Reasonable
Fair Trade Fabric	UK	No	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Reasonable
Ian Mankin Fabrics	UK	Contact only	Yes	Yes	Locally sourced	Reasonable/Expensive
Drapers Organic Cotton	UK	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Cheap
Arlandish Isle of Mull Weavers	UK	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Locally sourced	Expensive (High-quality fabric)
Offset Warehouse	UK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Reasonable/Cheap
Ethnic Crafts	UK	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Cheap

With thanks to Ruth Singer for gathering some of these sources.

Buttons/Buckles/Hooks/Clips

Company name	Website	Country	International Shipping?	Union?	Organic?	Fair trade?	General cost

Hand Tools

Company name	Website	Country	International Shipping?	Union?	Organic?	Fair trade?	General cost

Sewing Machines

Very difficult to find any companies which produce their products in their own country. China and Vietnam are very popular places to produce, unfortunately these places are very difficult to judge on labour and health standards due to a high level of secrecy in the organisation and their foreign production facilities.

The best that can be done in this regard is to go with companies that have the best record at face value, and be sure to check on any of the materials or packaging for signs which show manufacture within the country of origin, or within countries with fair remuneration for their workers.

It may also be possible to purchase older machines which were purchased in a more fair and equitable time period, but these older machines may not be able to fulfill the more demanding tasks of modern sewing machines. A quick glance on eBay does show some machines that may have been used to sew together continents which are still up and running after 40 years of use, so it may be premature to count out machines that were made in the UK and Europe.

Other Electronics

Company name	Website	Country	International Shipping?	Union?	Organic?	Fair trade?	General cost