How do we know our companies are sweatshop free? Many people are curious about where the products at Urban Ruby come from. We want you to feel safe that when you buy from Urban Ruby your dollars are voting for ethical company practices. Below we have compiled an overview of all our sources for our products.Urban Ruby does not yet manufacture any of the products carried in the boutique. We hand select our products from small progressive companies working toward a positive change in the world. Accessories Accessories: Women Focused Natural Beauty Products Clothing-Blue Canoe Clothing-Swirl Space Clothing-WildLife Works Accessories Currently all of our accessories come from a company called World Finds who imports their goods from sewing cooperatives overseas. The sewing cooperatives are made up primarily of women and are located in third world countries. World Finds is a member of the Fair Trade Federation and gives women in third world countries an opportunity to manufacture and export their goods independently and in return for a fairly traded wage. Read on for their mission statement. Our Purpose and Mission: WorldFinds is a "right-livelihood" business. Its purpose is to act as a haven for unusual products made by artisans who are paid a fair wage for their work - primarily women in third world countries. WorldFinds was born amidst an extended backpacking trip in 1999. There hadn't been an initial plan to start a business, but we met so many artists that had huge talents but extremely limited resources… we felt we just had to do something to help. The artisans' stories stuck with us as we traveled. It was the same story everywhere we went, from Nepal to Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam and South Africa. They had little knowledge of how to market their wares and couldn't find a steady outlet for their handmade goods. We used our resources to develop a website while we were still traveling, and then began WorldFinds once we returned to America in mid-2000. We're not naïve enough to think we can change the world through a little website, but we hope to help support the hard work of a few talented artisans and their families by building long-term relationships and paying sustainable fair wages. Accessories: Women Focused Can we rant-n-rave a bit? Women comprise a third of the official labor force, yet do two-thirds of the world's work. But they earn one-tenth of its income and own one-hundredth of its property (ILO). For women in westernized nations these are sad statistics, but for women in third world countries they mean a life of grinding poverty and few opportunities. The majority of the items on our site have been handmade by women in less-developed countries like Nepal, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. It's our quest to help provide them with a sustainable source of income through fair trade opportunities. Many of our women producers are able to hone their items at home -- allowing them to work and look after their families. The purchase of fairly-traded products makes a world of difference. Choose to use your valuable purchasing power to help women around the world realize their potential and retain their dignity. The above is taken in full from WorldFinds at www.worldfinds.com World Finds currently supplies all the accessories at Urban Ruby To read more about Fair Trade go to our Why Fair Trade Page Natural Beauty Products: All our cosmetics and facial care products currently come from a company called Burt's Bees. Burt's Bees is a unique company with a progressive vision. Read on for their mission statement: WHO WE ARE: We are Burt’s Bees, a manufacturer of Natural, Earth Friendly Personal Care Products including: natural lotions and cosmetics, herbal soaps, aromatherapy bath oils, powders, bath salts, salves and The World’s Best Lip Balm. We make over 90 products in our factory in Durham, North Carolina, and sell them through more than 6,000 stores around the world. WHAT WE BELIEVE: We believe that work is a creative, sustaining and fulfilling expression of the Inner Being. We believe that what is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right. We believe that no one can do everything but everyone can do something. We believe that the most complicated and difficult problems we face as a civilization have the simplest solutions. We believe that Mother Nature has the answers and She teaches by example. We believe that by imitating Her economy, emulating Her generosity and appreciating Her graciousness, we will realize our rightful legacy on our magnificent Planet Earth. Taken in full from Burt's Bees Training Manual. Burt's Bees, Inc. Durham, NC 27709 Burt's Bees products are not tested on animals. To read more about this company go to our More About Burt's Bees Page Clothing-Blue Canoe Blue Canoe: Mission Statement: For 9 years Blue Canoe has been offering the very best in bodywear: comfortable, functional, and fashion conscious. Products you can believe in: Our products fit the lifestyle of today's active women who are looking for more than great feeling, great fitting clothes: women who want their buying to reflect their deeper values of health, consciousness, and balance. Every Blue Canoe item you purchase keeps one pound of toxic pesticides from polluting our fragile environment. A company you'll like: We are not a huge corporation. We are a woman-owned and run company that manufactures locally in the Pacific Northwest. Our commitment to conscious business practices allow us to be responsive to our customers' needs. Reproduced from the Blue Canoe product materials. Blue Canoe Garberville, CA 95542 1-888-923-1373 The following is a portion of an email that I received from Blue Canoe in response to my standard inquiry about business practices: Our cotton comes from Peru. It is Ringspun organic combed cotton- the purest, softest available. It is shipped directly to our knitters in LA and then the fabric is sent to our manufacturer in Eureka, a town just north of us. They employ approximately four sewers at a very fair wage. The finished garments then come to our "warehouse" and are custom dyed, if needed. The dyer uses only low impact fiber reactive dyes, which leave very little to wash away in the waste water. We are currently in the process of setting up our own dye house locally so that we can better control the turn around time of the dying operation. I hope that this information helps you. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me. Clothing-Swirl Space Swirlspace:Eco Fashion Coop Shop Mission Statement We combine our conscious-driven art with environmentally-sound hemp clothing products. We have made a strong commitment to offer the most unique designs on the highest quality fabric at very reasonable prices. Current business practices within the cotton and garment industries are less than ideal: Cotton farming uses 25% of the pesticides in use today; Many companies utilize sweatshop labor in foreign countries to churn out cheap goods. We cannot justify these practices in the name of capitalistic economic theory. We're hoping that we can help bring more awareness of the many benefits associated with Hemp and Organic Agriculture in general. We seek to overturn those national policies which defy common sense, especially the so-called "war on drugs". Hemp is not a drug, it's a PLANT. This rhetoric has been misleading the American public for far too long. We must seek the truth beyond the mass-fed channels and rediscover our own reality. We believe we can all create a more fulfilling existence for ourselves and others thru creativity, information and cooperation. Reproduced from the Mission Statement published at the SwirlSpace website located at www.swirlspace.com Swirlspace San Francisco California. Clothing-WildLife Works WildLife Works is an eco friendly clothing company that is bringing a huge positive change to our world. There are two key issues facing the world's wildlife today: Destruction of habitat by humans, and Poaching by poor, hungry rural people for money or meat. Wildlife Works is addressing both of these issues head on. Wildlife Works use the proceeds from your purchases to protect wildlife by placing large areas of wilderness under conservation, like they did with the Rukinga Sanctuary in Kenya. Of equal importance, they provide jobs for the people who share their land and resources with wildlife, so they can feed their families and send their children to school without destroying animals and their habitats. Remember, Consumer Powered Conservationsm only works because of you, and it works even better when more people get involved. So, help spread the word! WildLife has created an 80,000 acre sanctuary from at risk wilderness which now provides a home for 46 Large Mammal species. This company employs 50 people in the Kenyan village of Maunga. 20% of the proceeds from this company fund community projects such as the 20 acre Rammed earth Eco-Factory site to provide jobs for the community. WildLife has built several schools, and are teaching the farmers how to protect their farms from animals without resorting to lethal methods. Wildlife is an incredible project. Not only is the company incredibly progressive but the clothing is fashion forward which is why celebrities like Charlize Theron, Oprah Winfrey and Debra Messing (to name a few) have been seen toting an endangered animal. The clothing is great and provides a great way to make a radical change on our planet. WildLife Works also carefully screens their materials to ensure that they are eco friendly. Following is an excerpt from WildLife Works about their organic cotton. Organic Cotton Cotton was used by the Egyptians almost 4,500 years ago ! Most cotton garments sold today are made from cotton that has been grown using chemical pesticides, then bleached to take away the natural buff color, then dyed using synthetic dyes containing toxic heavy metals or petroleum based products. Cotton in fact today accounts for nearly 25% of the worldís total insecticide use for crops. In California alone, some 6,000 tons of pesticides are used on cotton every year ! So what does this really mean ? The World Health Organization reports that 3 Million people worldwide are victims of non-fatal pesticide poisoning every year. By one estimate, 20,000 people are killed annually due to accidental pesticide poisoning. Greenpeace has reported that the EPA has found 98 different pesticides in the groundwater of 40 states, contaminating the drinking water of over 10 Million people. Ouch ! At Wildlife Works we are much kinder than that ! And fortunately there is now a viable alternative. Organic cotton is cotton that has been grown on a farm that has been certified as pesticide free for three years. At Wildlife Works we use only fabrics made from certified organic cotton, we use no chlorine bleach to artificially whiten the fibers, and we use low impact dye processes, or naturally occurring colored cottons to color our fabrics. Funnily enough when you don't bleach or chemically treat cotton, the resulting fabric is much softer to the touch, an added bonus for being kind to the environment. So why doesn't everyone use organic cotton I hear you say ? Because it costs a little more to produce due to the as yet limited demand, so garments made using organic cotton fabrics are more expensive to make. We think itís worth it, do you ? The above information was taken directly from the Wildlife Works promotional material and literature.
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