Make Cotton Sustainable

NEWS REPORT / CNN

A Ray of Hope for Women in Liberia

As Liberia recovers from the aftermath of the civil war, a few women find a ray of hope in a fair-trade clothing factory owned by a businessman called Chid Liberty.

Chid's family business was turned into a site of conflict, mass graves and executions during Liberia's fourteen-year civil war. The building was totally destroyed with even the metal electric wiring from the building stolen.

"There was talk that if you crossed the street and looked over, they would pull you in and execute you," Chid explained of his family building's role in the war to CNN.

Now that the war is over, and the country is struggling with poverty, Chid is on a mission to rebuild. He has started the Liberian Women's Sewing Project promoting women’s rights and helping them earn a livelihood i.e. a fair trade initiative. The factory is in the basement of the same building. These women are working in good conditions (the basement is air-conditioned) and are exporting t-shirts for major retailers in the United States.

The California-based organization Transfair USA has certified the factory as fair-trade, meaning it complies with 90 regulations, including child labor, forced labor, health and safety, working hours, wages.

Chid believes that the ethics are actually what make the factory stand out. He said to The World, a few months back "That’s actually our competitive advantage over a factory in China or a factory specifically that uses sweatshop labor, is that we say, listen, we have a supply chain you can actually boast about."

Chid is aware that he needs to make profit too. "It is 100 percent undoubtedly a business and I think our investors and clients will tell you the same thing," he told CNN.

"There isn't a time when we can say to our clients, we didn't get your t-shirts shipped on time, but hey, we're doing great work in Liberia so we want you to continue to give us your business - it won't happen.

"We're very much committed to our financial returns, meeting deadlines and operating under the same conditions that any other trading company or factory in any other part of the world would have to commit themselves to," he further said.

To read the full story: Bullet-ridden building in Liberia turns into fair-trade haven