Fair Trade Uniforms Pilot Program

Taking ethical sourcing beyond the plate

When most people think of Fair Trade, they think bananas, coffee, or tea. However, cotton is one of the largest commodity crops in the world, and it touches the lives of far more farmers. Fair Trade cotton has been available in the United States since 2005, but only recently has the problem of sweatshops in the garment trade been addressed by Fair Trade certification of both the farms that produce the cotton for the garments and the factories that sew them.

In October 2011, timed to honor Fair Trade Month, we launched a pilot program supplying Fair Trade Certified shirts to student employees in two of our university cafés, with a slogan that read, “Organic, Fair Trade…This Uniform is Ethically Delicious!”

We hope to expand the project to front-of-the-house employees in other Bon Appétit Management Company cafés.

« Go to Timeline