CHILD LABOUR

Education is the key to a self-determined life. We are against child labour and promote education, especially for the children of the cotton farmers in the Chetna cooperative.

WHERE EXACTLY IS THE PROBLEM?

Children support their low-income parents and make a financial contribution to their livelihood by working in cotton fields or textile factories.

Schools are often located a long distance away from cotton farmers’ mostly remote villages. Due to a lack of financial resources, many parents cannot afford school fees and transport to school. For our GOTS and Fairtrade certified textiles, we know cotton farmers and their families because we can trace our supply chain back to farm level. Here, we specifically promote school education. Due to the lack of tracking systems, this is not possible for the cultivation of conventional cotton.

WHAT SOLUTIONS DO WE ALREADY OFFER TODAY?

We want to make our world “fit for grandchildren”, and children are particularly close to our hearts.

With the GoodTextiles Foundation, which we founded, we have carried several school projects in India in cooperation with customers and the Chetna Cooperative. The particularly severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and school closures in India prompted us to re-evaluate the school projects in autumn 2021.

Even if we are focusing on the farm level, because this is where we see the best possible solutions, we also take possible child labour in textile companies very seriously. Our products that bear the OEKO-TEX® MADE IN GREEN seal are subject to the German government’s minimum social requirements, which stipulate the ban on child labour in accordance with the ILO Convention.