What We Ask of Our Makers

Every handmade rug is the work of people: spinners, dyers, weavers, washers, finishers. When we talk about craftsmanship, we are talking about them. It follows that a rug brand has a responsibility to think carefully about the conditions in which its rugs are made, and to be honest about what it knows.

Carprugs is a new brand. We are at the beginning of building relationships with weaving partners in India, and we do not yet have a long record to point to. We think the right response to that is not to borrow the language of certification or to describe outcomes we have not yet achieved, but to state plainly what we ask of the people we work with, and what we intend to document as we go.

Why we are writing this now

The rug trade has a complicated history when it comes to labour, and buyers are right to ask questions. Many brands answer those questions with reassuring phrases. We would rather give you something you can hold us to: a set of principles, a set of questions we ask, and a commitment to publish what we learn.

The principles

These are the principles we ask our partners to share, and which guide how we choose to work.

• Fair and timely payment. We ask our partners to pay the people who make our rugs fairly and on time, and we aim to structure our own orders and payment terms so that this is possible.
• No child labour. We do not accept child labour in any part of the making of our rugs. We ask partners to confirm this, and we will seek appropriate ways to verify it.
• Safe and decent conditions. We ask for working environments that are safe, with adequate light, ventilation and reasonable hours.
• Freedom of choice. Work should be freely chosen. We do not accept forced or bonded labour.
• Respect for skill. We value the knowledge of weavers and craftspeople, and we want our design process to learn from it rather than simply issue instructions.
• Honesty about materials. We ask partners to tell us accurately what our rugs are made of and how, so that we can tell you.

The questions we ask

Principles only matter if they are tested. When we consider working with a partner, we ask questions such as:

1. Who makes the rugs, and where? Is weaving done in a central workshop, in homes, or both?
2. How are weavers and other workers paid, and how often?
3. How is the age of workers established?
4. What are working hours and conditions like, including in home-based settings?
5. Where do the yarn and dyes come from, and how is dye effluent handled?
6. What independent audits, certifications or community programmes, if any, are already in place?
7. Would the partner be willing to share information with us, and for us to share it publicly?

Not every answer will be simple, and not every partner will be able to answer every question at once. We would rather have an honest conversation than a perfect-looking form.

Our intention is simple: to say only what we can support, and to publish more as we are able to verify it.

What we will publish

As our partnerships develop, we intend to publish on our website:

• the regions in which our rugs are made;
• how we select and review partners;
• what we have been able to verify, and how;
• where we have fallen short, and what we are doing about it.

We will not name individual artisans or workshops without their informed consent, and we will not present illustrative stories as documented fact. On our demonstration site, product origin and maker details are illustrative, and are labelled as such.

What we will not claim

We will not describe our rugs as certified, fair-trade or free of child labour unless we hold a certification or verification that supports that claim, and we will say which one. We will not claim heritage we do not have. We will not describe outcomes, whether social or environmental, that we have not measured.

This may make our language sound more cautious than that of some other brands. We think caution is appropriate. Trust is built slowly, and it is lost quickly.

An invitation

If you have questions about how a particular rug was made, please ask. If we know the answer, we will tell you. If we do not, we will tell you that, and try to find out. And if you work in this field, whether as a researcher, an auditor or a maker, and you think we could be doing better, we would like to hear from you.