Protects Amazon Basin forests with every product sold
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Description
Every Nisolo purchase provides a living wage to producers in the factory we own in Peru, enables us to pursue living wages within the rest of our supply chain, and combats climate change by protecting trees from deforestation in the Amazon Basin. Nisolo is a Certified B Corporation.
Our first mode of ethical production is through our own factory in Trujillo, Peru's shoemaking capital and third largest city. Shoemaking as an artform has been passed down through generations, and we take pride in sustaining its long-held traditions. One hundred percent of our team in our factory are Peruvian, and the lowest wage in our factory is a 3rd party verified living wage.
More than half of our producers (53%) had never held a stable job with a consistent salary and benefits prior to working with us. As a result of their hard work, our producers, on average, are experiencing a 47% increase in earnings. Those who have been with us for 3+ years are experiencing a 152% earnings increase, on average.
Our second mode of ethical production is through championing other ethical factories. We employ a strict Code of Conduct that all partner factories must sign and comply with in order to produce for Nisolo. At a minimum, all producers must be 18 years or older, receive a living wage, healthy working conditions, and healthcare. Nisolo staff personally conduct routine factory visits multiple times a year to establish strong working relationships and ensure standards are met.
Leon is located in the heart of Mexico, with centuries old ties to leatherworking and shoemaking. Its artisans are known around the world for making some of the highest quality leather goods on the planet. We're excited to learn from established, ethical factories and share our takeaways from building an ethical factory from the ground up as well.
All producers in our partner factories make a minimum of 14% beyond the living wage for a single individual according to WageIndicator, an independent organization that measures wages around the world. The annual turnover rate is less than 2% across all partner factories.
Our third mode of ethical production is through working closely with small, independent artisans to help grow their businesses and production capabilities. Just like in our own factory and our partner factories, all employees of our independent artisans are over the age of 18, and receive a living wage, benefits, and a healthy working environment.
Talented artisans around the world often face similar barriers to growth: the lack of knowledge of efficient production methodology, international quality standards and design trends, and access to quality materials, equipment, financing, and lucrative markets. We believe partnerships with independent artisans to be one of the best methods of job creation in low-income environments and also a way to preserve generational craftsmanship. Local, independent artisans and entrepreneurs have a better understanding than we do of the needs of their communities. Our goal for our independent artisan relationships is to provide consistent product orders and free business counseling to support local community leaders' efforts of eradicating extreme poverty.
For every Nisolo product sold, a contribution is made to help protect forests in the Amazon Basin.
At Nisolo, we recognize that everything we make has an impact on the planet. We believe the fashion industry can regenerate our natural environment instead of depleting it if we measure our impact and invest in proven methods to counteract it. To offset our production's carbon emissions, we have partnered with Ecosphere+ to implement an insetting program. (Insetting represents the actions taken by an organization to fight climate change within its own value chain in a manner which generates multiple positive sustainable impacts.) Our program focuses on keeping the threatened forests of the Cordillera Azul of the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest alive and protected while creating sustainable livelihoods for its indigenous communities.
Our Progress
To date, you've enabled us to protect 138,180 trees covering an area of 23,656,922 square feet (that's 184 soccer fields) from deforestation in the Amazon Basin, and offset 1,221 metrics tons of CO2. This is the equivalent of taking 264 cars off the road for a year, or 137,392 gallons of gas consumed. Our conservation project currently supports 716 jobs, 30% of which are held by women.
