Fair Trade & Social Accountability

FAIR TRADE & SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

As a pioneer in establishing effective methods to battle the use of illegal child labor, Obeetee maintains the highest standards of workplace conditions and accountability. Our weavers and supporting manufacturers are amongst the best paid in the industry and receive superior benefits, which results in exceptionally high employee retention rates at all levels of work. Through a network of 24 satellite depots, Obeetee has over 75 fulltime executives and supervisors whose sole purpose is to inspect our 10,000 looms and tufting frames over an area of nearly 60,000 square miles. Every hand knotted loom is inspected at least once every 15 days and tufted loom is inspected twice a week with additional surprise inspections from the head office at least once every 60 days. From these inspections, the company maintains detailed information on each and every weaver and their families to ensure that only those approved by OBEETEE are working on our products. This inspection system, which Obeetee developed during the 1980’s, along with other product quality controls, is random, frequent, and thoroughly documented. Each OBEETEE carpet has a control number established before it is even made so that a detailed history of the carpet can be easily accessed and audited for completeness and accuracy, even after the carpet is sold to the final consumer. For more than a decade, and through the production of more than 500,000 carpets, not one instance of illegal child labor has ever been discovered. It is this system of inspection that ensures a policy of zero tolerance and OBEETEE strongly encourages our industry peers to implement these same procedures in the production of their own products.