USA – Catholic Ethical Purchasing Alliance Hosts Immersion at Ethical Textile Production Cooperative
In August 2023, the Catholic Ethical Purchasing Alliance (CEPA) gathered institutional leaders from Catholic high schools and universities and secular workers’ rights organizations in Morganton, North Carolina, at The Industrial Commons for a two-day immersion to reflect on the impact of purchasing practices both in their institution and society at large. Institutions represented were the University of Dayton, Cardinal Gibbons High School, Bishop O’Dowd High School, the Garment Worker Center, and the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium.
The Industrial Commons is a cooperative ecosystem of businesses and organizations working to build a more just garment industry by centering workers’ rights, living wages, and sustainability throughout the production process. These commitments have made them key CEPA partners as the Alliance provides support to institutions seeking to integrate the values of sustainability and workers’ rights into their purchasing decisions.
throughout the immersion, participants had the opportunity to tour facilities and learn about the key partners in the ethical clothing manufacturing community. They began at Carolina Textile District, a member-governed and member-driven network of values-aligned textile manufacturers in North and South Carolina. Participants then toured Opportunity Threads, a worker-owned cooperative cut-sew factory primarily operated by migrants from Guatemala who now own and operate the facility within the cooperative model.
The next tour was with MaterialReturn, which works with local manufacturers and national brands to transform textile waste into new products. Material Return models a circular economy, which is an economic system based on the reuse and regeneration of materials or products, especially as a means of continuing production in a sustainable way. At Material Return, fabrics and threads that would have gone to waste are instead used to create new products such as beanies and socks. This model of circularity benefits the environment, local economies, workers, and values-aligned clients.
Source : Ignatiansolidarity.net
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