Here’s a question from a reader wondering where she can get some fair trade and/or organic undershirts:
I am on the hunt for fair trade/organic undershirts for my husband.
Thought you might be able to help!
Finding Organic & Fair Trade Undershirts
Thanks for stopping by and for sending in your question.
I’m not overly familiar with fair trade items, and I suppose not all organic cotton tees/undershirts are considered fair trade.
That said, here’s a list of undershirts and light weight t-shirts that are either made by a company that is registered as fair trade or ones that I know of that make organic tees.
Fair Trade Undershirts or Tees
Organic Undershirts or Tees
Also, be sure to search my site for the terms “organic” or “fair trade”.
You’re sure to come across some other products, like the KNO organic t-shirt or the WAMA hemp boxer briefs!
Hope the above information helps, and be sure to let me know if you decide to try out any of the above items for your husband!
Would love to hear back from you.
The following information is courtesy of my good friends over at StaplesPromotionalProducts.com!
Additional Organic & Fair Trade Info
I noticed the organic-fair trade question you had in your post this morning.
A few thoughts:
I don’t see many vendors claiming fair trade status in apparel.
There is an international standards group in Switzerland that offers bluesign® certification for apparel that meets stringent safety, health and environmental standards.
This involves standards effecting everyone from the workers in the field, to the manufacturing operations to impact on consumers.
One of our suppliers, Eco by Boardroom, a Canadian company, has a number of t-shirts that are bluesign® certified.
I’m a little less familiar with this one, but we also offer a shirt made for us that is manufactured using:
- Sustainable energy
- Ethically made
- Audited by The Fare Wear Foundation
- Coloring uses azo free ink
And, United by Blue removes a pound of trash from oceans or waterways for each organic t-shirt they sell if your reader is interested in that.
Organic T-Shirts
We see lots and lots of organic t-shirts. A big key here is that it is certified organic.
Anybody can claim an item is organic, and even though the USDA doesn’t do much with certifying non-food crops as organic, I do feel better when there is some indication of certification.
Among the larger manufacturers, the people who have pushed organic most is Anvil. Not only do they have certified organic, they also have some shirts with recycled cotton content.
Companies selling organic shirts are also:
- Anvil
- Alternative Apparel
- Canvas+bella
- District Made
- econscious
- L.A.T
Most, if not all of the above organic shirts are imports.
There may be some domestic organic shirt producers I’m not aware of.
Akwa has some shirts with a high rayon made from bamboo content that are produced in the USA. There are also a few blends out there that utilize recycled polyester.
Anvil is the leader there as well with a 50/50 blend shirt that has its polyester component all from recycled material. Also, they have a shirt with a 42.5% recycled content.
In addition, we have a shirt we have made for one of our fitness customers that is 70% recycled polyester with the remainder a special moisture-wicking polyester yarn.
