Rugmark-Certified Carpets

When buying a rug, make sure children in sweatshops didn’t make it.

January/February 2004
By Leah Kaplan 
JF-04-032-Girl-school.jpg
Image Gallery
Children in India previously forced to weave for sixteen hours a day now go to school as part of Rugmark’s rehabilitation programs
Photography By Robin Romano
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The handmade carpet industry has long been associated with child exploitation. So how can you be sure your next carpet purchase doesn’t bear the imprints of tiny fingers?

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Making a difference: Rugmark, a nonprofit organization working to end child labor, certifies carpets made under safe and fair working conditions while helping former child weavers reclaim their childhood. Many Rugmark-certified rugs are also made of natural wool and dyed with botanical pigments.

From loom to classroom

More than 2,300 child carpet workers have been rescued in India, Nepal, and Pakistan and placed in schools since Rugmark was launched in 1994.

Changing lives

Forced into bonded labor to pay off her father’s debt, fourteen-year-old Shanti Lama from Nepal is among those helped by Rugmark. Once illiterate, she now reads at the fifth grade level. Now reunited with her family, she wants to be a dance teacher when she grows up.

Checking up

Rugmark’s program spans from remote villages in South Asia to home furnishings stores across North America and Europe. At the production level, loom and factory owners agree to make carpets free of child labor, submitting themselves to random, unannounced inspections. The designers and importers with whom they work are then given the right to put the Rugmark label on their carpets. These licensees pay a small royalty back to Rugmark, and the proceeds underwrite its advocacy, ­education, and rehabilitation programs.

Look for the label

Rugmark-certified carpets can be purchased at nearly 300 stores. Rugmark.org contains a list of retailers by state: (866) 784-6275.

Five ways to end child labor

1. Educate yourself about the use of child labor through organizations such as Rugmark, the International Labour Organization, and the Child Labor Coalition.

2. Urge the United States to enforce laws that prohibit the importation of illegal, child-made products. Write the U.S. Customs Service, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20229.

3. Participate in ­consumer action campaigns to end unfair labor practices. Check Green America's Ending Sweatshops Program for information.

4. Organize an educational presentation at a local school or community group about the problem of child labor.

5. Ask for the Rugmark label where you shop.

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