Craig, as the person who has visited this factory in Indonesia twice, I say your point is valid and well taken. How do we assure that companies are not green washing by making claims such as the one I have without third party verification?
I think if you visit my blog. www.fairjewelry.org on the subject on fair and ethically sourced jewelry and read up on the issues I have covered, you’ll understand the scope of this problem
TransFair USA, the labeling organization that certifies fair trade, does not want to get involved in the manufacturing of jewelry. They are dipping into mining, but only on a large scale, favoring large players. I could be wrong, but there is not agreement, at least what I’ve heard from the grapevine, with how FLO international is approaching this issue. At any rate, I am certain it will be many years before there is any type of verification. I have put forth repeatedly that it is not adequate to just cover mining issues. Our whole sector needs to be address.
In the meantime, there is talk about a meeting to deal with these issues later in the year sponsored by a respected NGO. I should have something posted on my blog announcing this hopefully within a week or two.
Regarding the factory in Bali, all I can say at this point is that I have personally visited the place twice, but more than that, I am personal friends with the owner who is originally from New Zealand. We spent time together snowed in up at high Himalayan mountain tops. I know the guy’s values. I have seen how he operates and how he lives and the twenty year old car that he drives. He has deep and genuine sympathy for his workers and offers them better benefits than most American companies do their own employees. You can take my word for it, or not. These issues are complex and difficult as we are in the early stage of what I believe will be a huge movement within our industry.
But honestly, the problem is not coming from small players such as myself with just ten employees who are getting involved with this early on or the types of people who I interview on my blog.
All of us who are passionate about these issues are not green washing or fair washing. On the other hand, when you have big corporations rolling out marketing “eco†initiatives or “fair†initiatives, emphasizing one element of a product as green, or tying their product to some celebrity, then it is time to be concerned. This can be done to distract what is taking place in other sectors of their supply chain which may not be so savory. Jewelry media and marketing has distracted the customer for too long away from its sourcing.
That is why I favor full transparency as a basis for fair trade and eco. I have 3000 inventory pieces and I know that I cannot be entirely kosher, but I am certainly moving in the direction as I can. In my upcoming website design, I will be even more honest about what I know and what I don’t. That will at least allow the customer to make a fair decision.
As for the issue of keeping jobs in the US, I totally agree with you on that as well. Fair trade should also include living wages. I live in Santa Fe, NM and we have one of the most progressive stances on this of any city in the country. But even their living wage is far too low, which is why I offer my people a good wage and an excellent benefit program. If you want to learn more about that, you can visit my website, www.celticjewelry.com and read about it for yourself.
The real issue here in the US and abroad is human greed verses fair and equitable exchange. Unfortunately, too many people in the world think that they only way to get ahead is by stepping on others below them or giving them as little as possible to live. That is primarily how business is run.
