Because I’ve been searching high and low for an affordable living room rug that is made in fair working conditions, I contacted Crate and Barrel to find out more about their approach to labor in their overseas factories. It seemed to me the responsible thing to do.
I was surprised and pleased by their response:
Dear Jane Hoffmann,
We understand that in the world market, some countries do not sustain the same ethical beliefs as others, this is of utmost consideration in determining and maintaining our business relationships.
At Crate and Barrel, we sincerely respect the human rights of all people. Any inhumane employment relationships and working conditions violate this belief. Therefore, we request our suppliers and their subcontractors comply with certain rights for their employees. These conditions include, but are not limited to the prohibitions of child labor, mandatory overtime, forced labor, obstructing the employee’s legal right to form a union and discrimination. We reserve the right to monitor a company’s compliance to the above conditions and any violation may lead to the termination of the business relationship.
As a company, we take the issue of fair labor very seriously and hold our vendors and agents to the same standard. Every vendor we work with receives our Vendor Operations Guide that they need to read and follow. It outlines our standards and expectations around many topics such as workplace safety and child labor, to name a few. We also have agents in India (where most of our rugs are made) that conduct frequent surprise site visits on our behalf to ensure that our vendors are following the standards outlined. To be specific to your question, we do not use an outside certification organization like Goodweave; however, we feel very confident that we are taking the necessary steps to ensure that fair labor practices are followed in the making of our rugs.
We hope this information has been helpful and we were able to convey our level of commitment to ensuring that ethical practices are maintained in our trading relationships.
Sincerely,
Meredith Lorrin
Office of the President
Corporate Customer Service
This sure is a much more encouraging response than the one I received from Anthropologie! I now feel a bit more comfortable shopping at Crate and Barrel. They also appear to have a pretty good “green” initiative going at their company, and I know that much of their furniture is handmade from solid hardwoods in the USA. I think, though, that Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams is still a great company with better quality furniture, and I’m still on the lookout for smaller, locally-owned businesses that carry affordable pieces as well. But in the mean time, it’s nice to know that this major home decor retailer has high ethical standards.
Even if their name is misleading, as they don’t sell crates – or barrels – for that matter.
12 Comments
Thanks for posting this! It’s good news to know that Crate & Barrel ensures the employees at their overseas factories are treated fairly. I was disappointed to read your post about Anthropologie, and I hope their stance changes in the future (it’s such a shame, because I love their stuff). Kudos to you and others like you who research their choices prior to supporting companies!!
LOL I never thought of it before… but their name IS misleading! hehehe! I’m so glad they get the big thumbs up! One of my favorite catalogs to wishlist my way through for sure!
Now go get that rug! which one are you thinking about? any at all?
xoXOxo
I am glad to hear this! I love Crate and Barrel and Anthropologie for that matter.. but I am glad to see that Crate and Barrel has the right values in place. Thanks for these posts.
Lauren
Hi Lauren,
Please do not be deceived. I know someone that did work at Crate and Barrel and here is some information that I heard: it is the worst store to work for. If you like everything about C & B it is probably because they do not pay their employees anything. I think McDonald pays more. At Christmas time, their “present” to their employees is to give them a 20% discount on purchases (yay! Crate, get more revenue from your barely minimum wage employees.) I remember her saying that this one full-time employee that was older, maybe in her 60’s, was a great salesperson. They wanted to decrease their full-time employees so they would not have to pay insurance benefits, etc. They “demoted” full time employees to part-time; she was one of them. As a protest, I will never buy anything in this store, ever.
This was so interesting! Thanks for the leg work.
Have you ever visited the blog Sorta Crunchy? I think you would like it. Especially her post today: http://www.sortacrunchy.net/sortacrunchy/2010/12/sortacrunchy-enthusiastically-recommends-lotus-jayne.html
I hadn’t, but I’m off to check it out! Thanks a bunch 🙂
Thanks for doing the legwork for us all once again. It’s good to know one of my favorite stores is also an ethical choice.
This is great news! 🙂 Very encouraging.
That is so good to know. Thank you for sharing – and for the research behind it!
I love that you researched this and shared it here – thank you!
Hi Jane,
(sorry for the long-winded reply)
I applaud the fact that you asked “the question” in the first place – if only more consumers were as concerned with where, how and who made the goods they purchase…
FYI – I work for GoodWeave, the non-profit organization Crate & Barrel mentioned in their response. Crate & Barrel’s answer is designed to do the very thing it seems to have accomplished with you and the people responding to your post – make you feel good, like they’re REALLY doing something to eliminate abusive labor conditions. They MUST DO MORE!
EVERY major consumer goods company has this kind of policy. Each of the companies has multiple levels of suppliers and agents between themselves and the abused workers that make the products consumers will buy. A Vendor Code of Conduct provides the company with plausible deniability. They are able to talk about how they respect the rights of all workers, etc., etc…
Can you really believe that providing a written code of conduct to a supply chain notorious for unlawful and abusive labor practices will have a serious and lasting impact on the offenders? The Indian supply chain is incredibly convoluted. The type of rugs sold by Crate & Barrel are often made on tufting frames leaned against an individuals mud shed in a rural area of India’s “carpet belt”. Having Crate & Barrel’s agent’s conduct any type of inspection of their own supply chain is like BP inspecting their own drilling platforms in the gulf. The key difference is that the consumers aren’t confronted with pictures and videos of workers in abhorrent conditions making their rugs on the 5 o’clock news. It’s all very secret and off the grid.
This would be a good question to ask; if there is an independent non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to end illegal child labor in the handmade carpet industry, and this organization is able to certify that the looms and frames Crate & Barrel rugs are made on are free of illegal child labor – why wouldn’t they do it? Is it cost? I can tell you that the cost of certification would only add pennies to the cost of the type of rug they sell.
Good corporate citizens like The Gap involve all players in protecting their supply chain. They work with independent non-profits like GoodWeave, with domestic and international labor organizations, human rights organizations, the workers themselves, etc. Even with all of this transparency and outside assistance the Gap has found abusive labor in their own supply chain. A vendor code of conduct is rarely worth more than the paper it is printed on save for providing the company with the legal framework of avoiding responsibility.
I implore all of you to investigate the issue for yourselves. You can explore our website http://www.goodweave.org or check out the US Department of Labor information – Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, etc. http://www.dol.gov/ilab/highlights/if-20101215.htm
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