Started in Fall 2007, the the Michigan Student Assembly Peace and Justice Commission's "Fair Tees" program serves a necessary campus service. Even if the UM administration does not adopt measures to allow our collegiate apparel to be made fairly, there has been great student interest in making sure student organization t-shirts are made fair and clean. Fair Tees informs student and community organizations of the best sweatfree clothing suppliers and helps order these products, too.

Fair Tees is happy to announce the following student and community organizations have ordered shirts made by either unions or cooperatives, and many even opted for organic styles. For using their purchasing power in a positive way, the MSA Peace and Justice Commission publicly thanks: Alice Lloyd Hall Council, Environmental Justice Track at the School of Natural Resources (EJ SNRE), F-Word, Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC), Migrant Immigrant Rights Awareness (MIRA), Michigan Student Assembly (MSA), St. Mary's Student Parish Alternative Spring Break, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality (SOLE), The Detroit Partnership, The Ginsberg Center, and The Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice (ICPJ). If you don't see your student group on this list, please contact fair.tees (AT) umich.edu so the Peace and Justice Commission can send you more information!

Additionally, SOLE compiled a quick reference list, with help from Sweatfree Communities, so you can easily purchase personal products from cleaner and more fair factories. It is important to purchase from union or cooperative factories where we know the workers have a safe workplace, receive a living wage, and are treated with dignity!

[-] SweatX is a unionized, worker-owned cut and sew shop in Los Angeles. They sell retail clothing online at www.sweatx.net. Contact them directly about wholesale orders at 1-866-4SweatX.

[-] Justice Clothing is a company in Maine that provides UNITE-HERE certified textiles and sweatfree apparel. They are University of Michigan alumni. For wholesale please contact the MSA Peace and Justice Commission.

[-] American Apparel has a vertically integrated business model that purports to be sweatfree, although they are not unionize and there is debate regarding worker treatment. They sell a wide variety of retail clothing online at www.americanapparel.net. Contact them about large orders at 1-213-488-0226 ext 502.

[-] No Sweat Apparel sells garments made in unionized factories and co-ops in the United States and around the world. They also sell organic tees for wholesale orders of 700 or more. Check out their website - www.nosweatapparel.org - for retail orders. Contact them directly about wholesale orders at wholesale@nosweatapparel.com.

[-] Maggie's Organics, based right over in Ypsilanti, sells organic cotton clothing and ensures their clothing is not made in sweatshops by requiring full disclosure on working conditions and by making on-site visits. They sell retail clothing on their website at www.organicclothes.org. Contact them at maggies@organicclothes.com or (800) 609-8593.

[-] Nueva Vida Internacional is a worker-owned women's sewing cooperative in Nicaragua. They sell printable cotton and organic t-shirts. For wholesale please contact the MSA Peace and Justice Commission, or if you speak Spanish you can email them at fairtradezone@gmail.com. Here is a great video clip about the co-op at http://www.organicclothes.com/pages-story/nicaragua.html.