About
Maggies
Maggie's Organics was founded over ten years ago on the premise
that clothing could be durable, attractive, and affordable,
while made using environment-sustaining materials and methods,
and while treating workers with dignity. Today, our line of
socks, camisoles and accessories speak for themselves in quality
and durability.
Product
Highlights
SOCKS
The cornerstone of the Maggie's label is our socks. We offer
a wide variety of socks in different styles and colors. We have
styles for casual or dress, for working out or just lounging
around. The Organic Cotton in our socks is from several counts
of Certified Organic Long Staple Cotton yarn from the US and
Peru. Unlike conventional sock manufacturers, we use no harsh
chemical scourers, chlorine bleach or formaldehyde.
Our wool
socks are very special. Maggie's is proud to be the first company
to offer socks made with domestic Certified Organic wool. The
sheep who provide the wool for our yarn have not been treated
with any synthetic hormones, pesticides or vaccinations. They
are grazed on sustainably managed ranchland in the western.
CAMISOLES
Our camisoles are made from luxurious long-staple Certified
Organic Cotton. The long fiber length cotton produces an incredibly
soft garment that can be worn as an undershirt, or all by itself
on those hot summer days. We do not add any conventional chemical
softeners in our knitting, and our cotton is ring spun, providing
a unique softness. Our cams are sewn in Nueva Vida, Nicaragua
by the women of Maquilador Mujeres, a worker-owned cooperative
(see below for more information).
T-SHIRTS
Maggie's t-shirts are also sewn by the co-operative in Nicaragua,
and are made with ring spun cotton. The ring spun cotton makes
them uncommonly soft, and that softness increases with each
washing! Let us supply organic, sweatshop-free t-shirts for
your next event! We have also partnered with a low-imapct screenprinter,
TS Designs. We print many of our tees with their patented PVC-free
Rehance process.
History
We got into the Organic garment business through
a fluke - a quirk of fate if you will. We were marketing Organic
Tortilla chips, contracting thousands of acres per year, when
one of our farmers decided that adding cotton to his crop rotation
would help the quality of his corn. His experiment worked; his
cotton yielded a crop; we were expected to sell it.
We had dedicated
our careers to manufacturing and marketing products that converted
acreage from conventional to Organic cultivation. We knew first
hand the ravages of chemical farming, and we also knew that
a sustainable system could work and could make a difference.
It hasn't always been easy, and we haven't always succeeded
(we remember scoop neck tops that fell off peoples shoulders…
and naturally dyed socks that dyed feet as well). But we have
managed to keep it going, and to make it better. Today, were
quite proud of what we have to offer- our quality, our consistency,
and our adherence to those same beliefs and values that started
us out.
Supporting
Certified Organic Ingredients
Since the beginning Maggie's has been concerned first and foremost
with supporting organic agriculture. Bena Burda, our company
President, has been a key figure in the Organics Industry for
many years. For the past three years she has served as chair
of the OTA's Organic Fiber Processing Committee, and spearheaded
the creation of the Draft American Organic Standards For Fiber.
As a company, Maggie's has also been the recipient of numerous
awards, including:
For the
past five years Maggie's has been a member of Coop America's
Business Network, whose members pledge a "commitment to operate
in a socially just and environmentally sustainable manner".
Supporting Fair Labor Practices It was the frustration we experienced
in the quality of sewing in U.S. mills that ultimately produced
the partnership with the worker-owned co-operative, Maquilador
Mujeres. We believe that the lack of quality was a direct result
of the disenfranchisement of sewers at plants across the U.S.
and the world. Our theory was that if an environment could be
created where the actual sewers had a stake in their future
and our success, the quality issues would cease.
The
sewing co-operative is located in Nueva Vida, Nicaragua, in
a community that was established to house refugees who were
displaced by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. The investment capital
to construct the building was put up by the Center for Development
in Central America, but the women themselves constructed the
building and they democratically support and manage the business.
In 2002,
the co-op employed 123 heads of household, and the average wage
is 40% higher than the sweatshops in Central America. Since
2000, Maggie's has pledged as many sewing contracts as we could
offer them and in 2002, the women made thousands of t-shirts
and camisoles for us. All of Maggie's 
producers
must meet certain criteria in order to work with us. We require
all producers to fill out and sign a thorough questionnaire
developed by the Clean Clothes Campaign. This questionnaire
is our assurance that those companies who do business with us
meet our standards on everything from wages to overtime to maternity
leave to childcare.
