Maggie's Organics is a brand of clothing and soft goods made from

certified organic Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products.Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic prod ...

cotton and wool fibers, using fair trade production and distribution methods. The company was founded in 1992, and so is the oldest surviving organic apparel company in the US. The company's production is done in worker-owned

co-operatives A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

and

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, as well as in a family-owned and -operated facility in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. Maggie's Organics also seeks to minimize packaging and product transportation in order to lower their

carbon footprint A carbon footprint (or greenhouse gas footprint) is a calculated value or index that makes it possible to compare the total amount of greenhouse gases that an activity, product, company or country Greenhouse gas emissions, adds to the atmospher ...

History

The idea for Maggie's Organics began with an organic

tortilla chip A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortilla, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of Nixtamalization , nixtamali ...

. The founder worked in the organic food industry, selling both blue and yellow corn tortilla chips, when one of their farmers recommended adding cotton to the crop rotation to improve the quality of the corn. Organic farmers often use

crop rotation Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. This practice reduces the reliance of crops on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, along with the pro ...

as a way to improve crop yields without chemicals. His experiment worked. However, his cotton yielded a crop that then became the possession of the founders who had no venue to sell it. They soon began producing clothing with this accidental organic cotton. They started with socks, and then added tee shirts, focusing on simple products that would encourage the use of organic fibers that would also convert as many acres of land as possible from conventional to organic farming methods. By 2008, founder Bena Burda was recognized as one of the 25 most influential people in the organic industry.Oliver, Hilary. Nature Foods Merchandiser
/ref> Conscious of poor working conditions in the apparel production industry, Maggie's became interested in finding or creating an alternative production method. By partnering with Jubilee House Community, a community development organization, they were instrumental in the creation of The Fair Trade Zone, a 100% worker-owned sewing co-operative in Nueva Vida,

. The co-op has become the first worker-owned cooperative in the world to gain

Free Trade Zone A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re- exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject t ...

status and is an independent business sustaining its members and workers.{{cn, date=October 2022

References

Clothing companies of the United States Companies based in Michigan Fair trade brands