Interview with Rugmark UK

Emma Jamieson interviews Susan Towle, Director of Rugmark UK.
Rugs are an item of comfort, luxury, design and warmth. They are the result of talented weavers, creative designers and, in too many cases, child labour. For many countries in South Asia, rug manufacturing is an important and major industry. One such country is Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, a fact few people are aware of as it is featured in exotic tourism brochures and is renowned for its stunning beauty and rich culture. The rug trade is vital to the Nepalese economy and many factories “employ” children, some of them as young as five, in the making of these stunning creations.

Rugmark is a not-for-profit organisation which began in India in 1992 to tackle the problem of child labour in the rug industry, educate consumers and retailers and take steps to give independent appraisal and certification for the ethical qualities of rugs being exported to foreign markets.

Since 2001 it has had a UK branch, which is currently headed by Director Samantha Towle. Under her direction, Rugmark is relaunching its brand and label as GoodWeave, to reflect increasing standards within the organisation and changing consumer expectations and values. She took time out to talk to Retail Floors about the GoodWeave brand, the aims and activities of the organisation and explains how rug importers, retailers and interior designers can get involved.

EJ: Rugmark started in India, when did it open in the UK?

ST: The UK branch opened in 2001; there are also well established branches in Germany and the USA, which is a very big market. I’ve been the Director here for almost three years now and I hold regular discussions with the other branches. We host a telephone conference once a week to stay up to date with each other’s activities and brainstorm ideas. With the GoodWeave label about to be launched it’s important we all talk regularly.

RF: What are RugMark’s key objectives?

ST: There is a large child labour problem in many South Asian countries. Sometimes it is a case of children reaching the age of ten and then the families, already working on a rug-making factory, will then ask the factory director if their child can start work too. Unfortunately, in some cases children are separated from their families and sold into slave labour. Neither of these situations is positive as children who start work that young miss out on education, remain illiterate and devoid of many chances in later life. The key aim of Rugmark is to remove children from the work cycle and place them in education, in so doing increasing their opportunities in the future. An education provides them with work opportunities as an adult, informs them about their rights and how to negotiate a proper wage and contract; and helps them in the raising of their own children, when the time comes.

RF: Since its inception, what improvements have you seen in terms of reducing child labour and improving awareness of the issue?

ST: Well, broadly speaking, about a million children used to be employed in the rug industry in Southern Asia; this number is now around 300,000. There’s still a long way to go, but this is a big improvement. We have taken many children out of the work cycle and put them into education, which we subsidise, and we’ve reunited many children with their families. Where possible, we try and reunite a child with its family; we can also house them in a rehabilitation centre and we give them educational support. For those that show real promise we arrange for them to enter high school. Those who are not geared towards that can enter vocational schemes. The important thing is that they do not work as children and that they receive care and education.

The incidence of child labour has drastically reduced. This is due to a combination of increased awareness through the Rugmark programme and cultural shifts, as well as local government, in India, Nepal and Pakistan, coming under more and more pressure from markets, such as the UK, to bring about change.

RT: Tell us more about GoodWeave and what it means as a brand.

ST: For a long time, consumers were only aware of the child labour problem. However, with time, concerns have also emerged about the adults working in the industry, whether they too receive fair treatment and wages and the environmental impact of the industry. The environment is a bigger issue nowadays - people want to know about the ecological impact of their product, its origin etc. This is why we are introducing the GoodWeave label.

The GoodWeave label therefore reflects the broadening of the organisation’s outlook, our increasing standards, and is creating a fresh, new impetus.

We have already set up a pilot programme in Nepal for adults working in rug manufacture, providing adult literacy courses, free health checks and nurseries for mothers with children, to avoid having children growing up in a factory environment.

The GoodWeave brand will also allow us to broaden our labelling scheme to cover other woven floor textiles, such as coir/jute products and doormats. Rugmark as a brand was very rug oriented, whereas GoodWeave is a name which can encompass other products.


RF: You recently held a rug design competition for design students (see News section) to raise awareness amongst young people. Is this something you intend to do more of as an organisation in the UK?

ST: I would love to do more, absolutely. The design competition garnered a lot of interest, got students involved and really brought the issue into the realm of young designers.

As an organisation, we target individual rug importers and manufacturers and then inform retailers and consumers which brand names and products bear our label. In the high street we work with retailers such as Laura Ashley, B&Q plus many independents but I would like to increasingly target interior designers too as they are trend-setters with wide ranging contacts and have an enormous influence over a key sector of the market.

In the USA Rugmark attends trade shows and many designers, operating at the top end of the market, are very supportive and active [on the Rugmark International website www.rugmark.org.com you can view stunning images of installations of Rugmark rugs in high-end locations such as the set of The Apprentice TV show in New York]. The market in the USA is different and much bigger, but the interior design sector is one I’d like to encourage to become more involved, here in the UK. I therefore feel it’s important to communicate with the designers of tomorrow, and the competition is an excellent way to do that.

The USA also organizes a travelling photo exhibition, which takes a look at the rug weaving industry: the designs, the children who have been helped by Rugmark, where they go to school and the improved environment in which they now live. That’s a fantastic way to get a message across to the general public. We’d love to do it in the UK in due course.


RF: how does a manufacturer or retailer get involved with Rugmark, what is the application process?

ST: We license rug importers. To get a license, you simply contact me and apply. Each company pays a license fee, which then goes to fund our initiatives in South Asia including inspections, education, and welfare and rehabilitation projects. Rugs bearing the GoodWeave label are individually numbered, to avoid counterfeiting, and to enable easy tracing of the loom’s origin.

Through our organisation retailers can find out which importers and export manufacturers are licensed and where they can buy GoodWeave labelled rugs – importers are listed on our website or they can speak to me. We encourage retailers to become one of our Marketing Partners; this gives them excellent promotional opportunities, including a comprehensive profile on our website, which is visited by thousands of consumers each month looking for a GoodWeave retailer in their area or on-line.

So far 6 million rugs have been exported from South Asia bearing our label. To read more about our initiatives and how you can help, check out the UK website
www.rugmark.org.uk/.

Left: Florence Broadhurst Floral Trail from Knots Rugs