More Companies Join Campaign to End Child Labor

Six rug companies recently joined the GoodWeave certification program, which works to end illegal child labor in the carpet industry and to offer educational opportunities to children in South Asia. With the addition of Diane Paparo Studio, I + I srl, Inigo Elizalde Rugs, The Miller Davis Group, Modern Fever, and Tania Johnson Design, GoodWeave now licenses 75 North American companies to import rugs bearing the GoodWeave label.

GoodWeave licensees adhere to a strictly monitored no-child-labor policy, and make a financial contribution that helps fund education and other services for rescued children and those at risk of entering the work force. “With nearly 80 North American companies now signed up with GoodWeave, we are moving ever closer to our goal of ending illegal child labor in the carpet industry,” says Nina Smith, executive director of GoodWeave USA.

Through the support of GoodWeave’s industry partners, more than 3,600 children have been rescued from exploitation on carpet looms and offered rehabilitation, education, vocational training, and other services. Worldwide, 7.5 million rugs have been certified as child-labor-free since 1995. An estimated 1,500 retail outlets carry GoodWeave certified rugs in the United States and Canada alone.

The new member companies represent the diversity of designers involved with the GoodWeave program—from an Italian design firm catering to an international clientele to a 25-year-old family business based in Chattanooga, TN. The new companies are:

• New York-based Diane Paparo Studio designs, produces and sells an array of elegant contemporary home furnishings, including a line of fine Italian linens, handcrafted American furniture and GoodWeave-certified, hand-knotted rugs.
• I + I srl is an Italian design company that specializes in limited edition furniture, objects d’art for the home and conceptual handmade rugs. Its certified rugs, found in private collections and museums, are handwoven and hand-knotted in Nepal and India.
• Inigo Elizalde Rugs offers a variety of types of rugs. Its line of GoodWeave-certified rugs—all handmade, 100 knot count—is produced in Kathmandu, Nepal, where the New York-based studio is developing a new collection using 100 percent undyed organic wools.
• The Miller Davis Group, based in Chattanooga, TN, produces New Zealand wool hand-knotted and machine-made rugs, as well as hand-knotted Tibetan carpets made in Nepal. Clients include actor Vince Vaughn, the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas and the British royal family.
• Modern Fever offers limited edition and custom contemporary rugs sold in its flagship San Francisco showroom. All Modern Fever rugs are 100 knots, made from silk, wool, hemp or other natural materials using all-natural dyes and produced in Nepal.
• New York-based textile designer Tania Johnson, previously with Calvin Klein Home, recently developed her own collection under Tania Johnson Design. Johnson uses textural photographs of nature to create an original collection of hand-knotted rugs.

Full-length profiles of all GoodWeave member companies, as well as a complete list of retailers that sell GoodWeave certified rugs, are available at www.GoodWeave.org.

About GoodWeave
The GoodWeave certification program works to end exploitative child labor in the South Asian carpet industry by inspecting weaving looms and providing rehabilitation and education for former child weavers and other at-risk children. The GoodWeave label is your best assurance that no child labor was used in the manufacture of a carpet or rug. Visit www.goodweave.org to learn more.