Administration and Finance Focus
 
 

                                                                                                               

Socially Responsible Apparel Update

This fall, the UH Bookstore, the campus� exclusive textbook provider, is offering a new line of clothing that takes social responsibility to a new and inspired level. The UH Bookstore now sells Knights Apparel�s Above & Beyond brand of clothing in the Cougar Spirit apparel department. UH is one of approximately 350 Barnes & Noble college bookstores nationwide that carries the product.

Knights Apparel manufactures Above & Beyond collegiate apparel in overseas factories committed to meeting a higher standard of employment for their workers. Every factory employee receives benefits and a living wage sufficient to cover the monthly costs for a family of four, as determined by the Fair Labor Association and the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC).

In a memo to members of the WRC, director Scott Nova wrote, �For a major retailer like Barnes & Noble to lend its enthusiastic support to this initiative is very heartening and we commend the company�s leadership.� The WRC is an independent labor rights monitoring organization focused on protecting the rights of workers who produce apparel and other products sold in the United States bearing college or university logos. The University of Houston is an affiliate campus of the WRC.

According to the WRC, a factory in the Dominican Republic will manufacture the garments with verification of labor rights compliance by the WRC. According to Mr. Nova, this is the first time an apparel product that is widely available in the US will be manufactured in the developing world by workers earning a living wage.

UH Bookstore manager, Felix Robinson said Barnes & Noble has been involved in building the program for some time. Now that the Above & Beyond product has arrived on campus, the UH community can expect to see a major marketing initiative supporting this effort, with in-store signage and website exposure.

By associating with the WRC, the UH Bookstore commits to doing business with manufacturers that prohibit forced overtime, child labor, bonded labor, and discrimination, and that support workers� rights to a living wage, safe work environment, freedom of association, and collective bargaining.

�Participating in the new and exciting initiative with the WRC goes hand in hand with the university�s mission of sustainability,� said Emily Messa, Assistant Vice President for University Services. �This is one of the reasons we rely on great partnerships with our corporate partners, like Barnes & Noble. They help the university to continually raise the sustainability bar for our campus.�

Messa also points out that selling socially responsible merchandise on the university campus is one of the benchmarks of the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS). The STARS program is a tool created by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) for colleges and universities to use in tracking their progression on sustainability initiatives using objective criteria. The University of Houston is a member of AASHE.

For more information on UH�s sustainability efforts, please visit https://www.uh.edu/green.