Three small green businesses that offer ethical apparel in New York, Arizona and Wisconsin were proclaimed winners of Green America's ‘People & Planet Award.’ The winners of the $5,000 prizes are Themis and Thread, Fed By Threads and Fair Indigo. The winners were selected by enthusiasts during a month-long online voting period. The award recognizes innovative US small businesses that integrate environmental and social considerations into their strategies and operations.
Fran Teplitz, Green America's executive co-director, informed choosing clothing made ethically and with consideration to the environment was one of the best ways to support social and ecological responsibility in your day-to-day life by literally wearing it on your sleeve. He further said that his company applauds these small businesses for their work to help people and the planet with each garment they produce.
Jesse Beardslee, Founder of Themis and Thread, explained his company will use the prize money to purchase vintage and American-made sewing equipment. This would complement the machine that they already have ‘a 1940's Singer Featherweight 221’.
Alok Appadurai, Co-founder and CEO of Fed by Threads, said it was an honour to be recognized for the company’s commitment to end hunger in America. This was possible by supporting living wage garment jobs nationwide, reducing food waste and increasing demand for organic sustainable sweatshop-free apparel.
Finally, Robert Behnke, Co-founder and President of Fair Indigo was happy at receiving the award. He said his company strongly believes the best way one can contribute to a cleaner, greener apparel industry was to grow the market for fairly traded and earth-friendly clothing which supports organic farmers and small-scale humane production.
The next round of Green America's award will be announced in early 2017. That occasion would be the first time one of the three winning companies will receive $10,000 while the other two will each receive $5,000.
