GoodWeave

History

Worldwide attention was drawn to the use of child labor in handmade rugs in the 1980s. Studies by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the U.S. Department of Labor and human rights groups revealed that the industry was illegally employing and exploiting large numbers of children. Even more shocking, many children were found to be victims of debt bondage or forced labor, practices specifically banned by the United Nations and the ILO and condemned as contemporary forms of slavery.

RugMark was formally established in 1994 by a coalition of nongovernmental organizations, businesses, government entities, and multilateral groups like UNICEF. The first carpets bearing the RugMark label were exported from India at the beginning of 1995, mainly to Germany.

By the late 1980s, Kailash Satyarthi, chairman of the South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude was leading the global fight against child labor.  After many years of rescuing Indian children from bonded labor in the carpet industry only to see them replaced by others, Mr. Satyarthi recognized that no matter how many children were liberated, others would be forced to take their places at the looms. He wanted to create a market incentive for manufacturers to stop exploiting children on an industrywide basis.  

In September 1994, the RugMark Foundation was formally established by a coalition of nongovernmental organizations, businesses, government entities, and multilateral groups like UNICEF. The first carpets bearing the RugMark label were exported from India at the beginning of 1995, mainly to Germany. Over the next four years, RugMark expanded its certification and rehabilitation activities to Nepal and Pakistan.  

During the same time, the number of countries actively promoting the RugMark label also grew to include England and the United States. To date, more than four million carpets bearing the RugMark label have been sold in Europe and North America.