This sign for the Fair Wear Foundation was outside a t-shirt shop selling pretty typical tourist shirts in Heidelberg Germany. I asked the owner about the Fair Trade shirts and whether any consumers there cared about that. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, “yes, of course.”

I think that in the USA we have quite a ways to go in terms of education the public on both labor and environmental practices. We don’t see much of that at all, and certainly not in a tourist type of store. (send us any examples of exceptions, we’ll feature them in The Ink Kitchen.)

The world is passing us by and Continental Clothing is a case in point.

At the FESPA Digital in Munich I ran into someone from Continental Clothing. The company sells in the EU but not in the USA currently. Their “Earth Positive” principles read like a wish list for every person wanting ethically produced clothing in terms of product source, manufacturing methods, and the labor involved.  As they say, “Pick Your Cotton Carefully.”

Check out Earth Positive Apparel from Continental Clothing.