College Sweats Won't Be Made in Sweatshops

One hundred U.S. colleges have joined the Fair Labor Association, the organization of apparel companies, human rights organizations, and consumer advocates fighting sweatshop labor in the garment industry.

Collegiate licensed goods are worth $2.5 billion dollars in retail sales per year. Many of the schools that have signed onto the FLA—including Notre Dame, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Arizona, Duke University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Syracuse University, Florida State University, Georgetown University, and University of Southern California—are considered retail leaders in logo royalty income.

"I applaud the 100 colleges and universities that are taking a leadership role in the Fair Labor Association," U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman said as she announced the list. "These schools are making a visible pledge to ensure that merchandise bearing their logo or name—from sweatshirts to caps—are not made with the sweat of abused and exploited workers. Through their commitment to work with the FLA, these institutions are taking meaningful steps to make sure that their merchandise is sweatshop-free."

The Fair Labor Association, a non-profit organization, will oversee monitoring of company compliance with a workplace code of conduct created by the Apparel Industry Partnership. The AIP was formed in 1996 following a challenge made by President Clinton to the garment industry to offer consumers a method of discerning the conditions under which their garments are made.

"The more schools that affiliate with the FLA, the greater the number of perspectives we can bring to the table and the greater the leverage we can apply," said Robert Durkee, VP for public affairs at Princeton University and one of the earliest advocates of college and university participation in the FLA.

Michael Posner, executive director of Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and one of the founding members of the FLA, stated that "these schools represent a cross-section of American higher education. While 100 represents an encouraging milestone, there is no limit on the number of schools that can become involved, and I invite others to join with us in this important work."