We are a group of student activists who want to encourage our bookstore to reflect our progressive values by stocking ethical and sustainable UCLA apparel and other merchandise. Students have the power to vote with their dollars and make sure that our UCLA merchandise isn’t made with exploited labor, or unsustainable manufacturing techniques.
Buy Your Values, UCLA is dedicated to using social media, webinars, and in-class lectures to educate student organizations and departments on the history of exploited garment works, and offer them alternative ethical companies they can choose from to help create a stronger economy that works for all.
WHO WE ARE
OUR CAMPAIGN
We are running a student-driven campaign that is pushing our student stores to stock socially responsible UCLA branded apparel and merchandise that are better for workers and for the environment, and that better reflect our ethical values as students.
In addition, we want to establish a clear and enforceable code of conduct that these manufacturers have to abide by, whether by union representation, cooperative ownership, small-batch/local manufacturing, or circular production.
The current ethical vendors partnerships consist of:
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COLLECTION, a brand sourcing from a network of values-based textile companies and worker-run cooperatives located in North Carolina that produce and source sustainable materials from US farming associations or local recycled fabric;
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Unionwear, a unionized Newark, New Jersey-based company promoting small-batch manufacturing;
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Ethix Merch, a worker & environmentally-friendly promotional products company to handle promotion and distribution;
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Equal Exchange, a global brand who pioneered Fair Trade coffee & chocolate and work closely with small farmers & cooperatives across the Global South, promoting fair prices & workers’ rights.
The campaign’s goals are as follows:
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To facilitate a partnership between UCLA licensing, retailers of UCLA collegiate licensed products, and trusted ethical manufacturers who follow the university’s Code of Conduct, to provide merchandise options to campus members that better guarantee the health and safety of workers, and that utilize more sustainable production models and that better reflect our values as students.
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To secure a license for these ethical manufacturers with UCLA’s licensing department so the UCLA Store and Campus Store can offer these ethically produced products.
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To connect student organizations directly with individual workers across the planet who produce UCLA branded merchandise, to ensure that their lives are not impacted by the exploitation rampant in the global garment industry and food economy.
STANDARDS
1. Wages and Benefits
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We want regionally-specific wages and benefits across the supply chain that ensure all workers have access to provide for themselves and their families.
2. Worker Health and Safety
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We want demonstrated adherence to cross-national agreements and reporting through the supply chain.
3. Worker Voice and Democracy
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We want open communication with free associations of workers, cooperation with unions, or the support of alternative firm structures such as cooperatives.
4. Sustainability
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We want zero waste, carbon neutrality, and other practices important to a cleaner garment industry.
5. Transparency
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We understand the current disclosure system, and want further cooperation with said system through the Worker Rights Consortium.
6. Monitoring and Enforcement
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We understand there is a system which needs further support, so we encourage stronger efforts to cut companies that do not measure up to standards.