What makes a rug ‘ethically’ produced?

This entry was originally written by Weave.

A beautiful hand-woven rug adds so much to a home. However, it shouldn’t be at the expense and suffering of those who make it. 

Unfortunately the carpet weaving industry is not known for its 'ethical' practices – there are questions about working conditions, forced labour, child labour, access to education and medical care.

When we were looking at how we could bring both a beautiful and fair product to market we looked at these issues and what we could do to help address them. 

Weave works with artisans to create unique pieces inspired by the world around us.

What are the problems in carpet weaving areas? 

One of the largest carpet weaving areas of the world is located in Northern India, Pakistan and Nepal.

Rug weaving has been a part of community tradition in these locations for centuries – nomadic sheepherders, spinning their wool, and then weaving it on looms into beautiful artisan rugs in traditional designs.

Today, rug weaving on hand looms is the livelihood of 6.5 million families in India, the second biggest employment sector in the country so making sure that people are treated fairly at work can make a difference to many lives.

Particularly as handloom weaving is often done within family groupings and homes, rather than in a factory space, monitoring to make sure safe and fair employment practices are being followed can be difficult.

As a result, there have been complaints of illegal child labour, poor working conditions, and children not being able to access education or medical facilities.

 Banning child labour outright is a controversial response, a UNICEF report pointed out that 'not all child labour is bad, because day-to-day child co-operation is for many families a necessity to survive.' 

But this is not reason to ignore poor working conditions, lack of access to basic human rights like education and doctors.

The response has to come from both industry and consumers.  Industry partners like manufacturers, importers and retailers of hand-woven rugs are participating in and helping to fund accreditation schemes and not for profit organisations aimed at improving the livelihoods of carpet weaving families.

What can be done to help?

Every one of us can help, by checking before we purchase – is the rug that you are looking to buy helping to improve the lives of the carpet weavers?

It's so simple to check the product labelling – just look for the stamp of organisations like Care & Fair or GoodWeave – organisations that are working on the ground in India to regulate and improve the lives and working conditions of carpet weaving families.

Their home collections are born out of a passion for design, textiles and the planet.

By buying a rug endorsed by one of these third parties you know that some of the purchase price is going back into the community to build better lives.

The work of 'Care & Fair'

We have chosen to support ethical practices in carpet weaving areas by partnering with Care & Fair.

Care & Fair was started in 1994 by a group of European companies that were involved in the carpet trade. They set themselves the goals of helping to improve living standards, educate companies that consumers care about where their rugs come from and who made them, as well as showing that social responsibility and leadership can come from within the industry. 

We are very proud to be associated and support Care & Fair – 85% of all the funds raised and donated are spent on meaningful project work.

All of the rugs in the Weave collection are exclusively handwoven in India, using a technique called flat weave.

The Care & Fair organisation believes strongly in the transformative power of educating children – ‘poverty is a cause of child labour, but child labour causes poverty.’ So creating access to education through schools is a top priority.

Currently, they own and support 21 facilities across the carpet weaving regions. As a result, 3400 children have the opportunity to attend school at no cost to their families, another 60,000 people benefit from medical treatment and they have introduced the Women Empowerment Programs to help build futures.

This contribution helps make a difference to the region. One you support every time you buy a Weave rug.