Although we are not fair trade certified, we consider our business practises and those of our factories to be fair trade. Workers are paid fairly for their work, they work in comfortable working environments and are treated fairly and with respect. We have been working with the same small factories for over 17 years and they are all family owned with intimate work environments.
One specific example is the women's co op, a group of amazing women who work on Jayli designs. The purpose of the womens co-op is to enable women to have flexiable working hours so that they can continue to maintain a balanced family life, to nurture and care for thier children while being able to earn additional income with fair wages.
Not only are there flexible working hours, they can also work from home. All workers in the family run factories get paid per piece. Rather than micro managing each worker, the individual workers are given autonomy, the independence and freedom to work thier own hours. They can create their own micro businesses within a macro business system. The master oversee's the embroiderers to ensure that quality is maintained but the individuals take responsibility for thier own work.
The women's co-op is at the Argent's house, they come and go as they please and can chose to work more when their is greater demand. The work enviornment is like a social enviornment where they drink tea, chit chat while working on designs. They have the freedom and independence to work when they chose.
