Word: fairing
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This concept seemed like a no-brainer to Fair Indigo CEO Bill Bass, a former Army paratrooper raised in Knoxville, Tenn., who worked for the U.S. Department of Education before entering the business sector. "It's hard for me to feel right about not paying people fairly," he says. "But most apparel companies are focused on cutting the cost of production and see the people in their factories as commodities and replaceable parts." In 2005, Bass and three other executives from Lands' End, where he had been working as e-commerce chief, decided to leave the company...
...generous benefits. With their own capital, they assembled a staff of 30 (25 of whom used to work at Lands' End), but to this day, the founders still personally visit each factory on a regular basis. They also hand over 5% of the company's profits to the Fair Indigo Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving educational opportunities in the countries where the company's factories and co-ops are located...
Last November, Fair Indigo opened its first store, a 1,600-sq.-ft. eco-friendly space in Madison, Wis. The floors and shelves are made of sustainable bamboo, the walls are covered in wood pulp, and the clothes are draped on bamboo hangers. Customers can scan the bar code of any item at an Internet kiosk at the center of the store to read detailed information about the factory in which it was produced. Bass hopes to open four stores a year nationwide starting...
...Whereas fair-trade coffee is pricier than the conventional stuff, Bass insists that Fair Indigo clothing is just as stylish as other brands and its quality is just as high?only minus the markup for the do-good aspect. This is possible, he says, because he has eliminated the middle man. Bass relies heavily on worker-owned cooperatives, which slashes layers of overhead, and works directly with the owners of non--co-op factories. Moreover, unlike many clothing brands, Fair Indigo has a minimal advertising budget, counting instead on word of mouth, and it sells directly to consumers instead...
...brand's debut collection consisted of about 100 styles, but Bass says this fall's line will offer closer to 300, with a wider range of products, a broader color palette and more accessories. Each pair of jeans, he adds enthusiastically, will be made out of organic denim. The Fair Indigo aesthetic, which falls somewhere between J. Jill and J. Crew, is casual but fashionable, aimed at the 30-to-50-year-old set. (Think silk jackets, alpaca scarves and cashmere sweaters...