RugMark Launches GoodWeave Certification Program

As with the existing RugMark label, the new GoodWeave designation offers assurances that no children under the age 14 were involved in the manufacturing of the labeled rug.

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 7/10/2009

After 15 years of weaving goodwill throughout the carpet and rug industry, RugMark International is retiring its existing RugMark certification label and logo in favor of a new trademark -- GoodWeave -- to designate rugs and carpets that the organization has determined were manufactured in facilities where employees are over the age of 14.

Like the RugMark label, GoodWeave represents the organization's commitment to the deterrence of child labor, the education and rehabilitation of child workers rescued from the carpet industry, and the 3,200-plus children in India and Nepal that the group actively serves.

The transition to the GoodWeave label marks a turning point for the organization as it endeavors to place its mission into the broader context of environmental and social responsibility through a set of still-developing standards. GoodWeave will reflect these new directives, stemming from input by the group's stakeholder standards committee, that will be more rigorous, transparent and defined. RugMark has also turned to the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labeling Alliance, an international organization dedicated to setting norms and practices for certification, to help guide its efforts.

The new RugMark International website at GoodWeave.net will make the organizations policies and procedures available and facilitate comments on setting standards.



Images courtesy of GoodWeave.