Jaipur Living is the latest business to earn the Nest Seal of Ethical Handcraft, the first consumer-facing seal that assures the artisans who work in homes and small workshops receive the same worker protections as their counterparts in socially compliant factories and the products they produce meet the highest degree of ethical production standards.
“We are honored to be a part of the Nest Steering Committee and to have earned the Nest Seal of Ethical Handcraft. The work Nest is pioneering very much aligns with our own mission and values of supporting women artisans, protecting the art of hand-knot weaving, and paving the way for the next generation of artisans. We look forward to advancing our work with Nest to help create global solutions and innovative programs that will continue to provide more awareness, social consciousness, and economic growth to our artisans, as well as all who work outside the four-wall factory,” says Asha Chaudhary, CEO of Jaipur Living.
To earn the Nest Seal, Jaipur Living’s supply chain was assessed in accordance with the Nest Standards for Homes & Small Workshops, and the company demonstrated a commitment to the Standards’ five core principles, which protect the rights of hand-workers around the globe. This achievement puts Jaipur Living in a community of 13 businesses that have successfully earned the Nest Seal as a result of months of training, dedication, and hard work alongside Nest.
Jaipur Living, a member of the Nest Steering Committee, which launched the Standards at the United Nations in 2016, partners with over 6,000 rug weavers, knotters and yarn spinners throughout Rajasthan, India, to produce fine rugs, pillows and home decor. In total, Jaipur Living and its family of brands support more than 40,000 weavers, providing artisans with an opportunity to earn a sustainable living while reviving a dying age-old art form.
In addition to its commitment to ensuring the rights and protections of all people throughout its manufacturing process, Jaipur Living has developed a unique technology-based system to optimize supply chain transparency and efficiencies. Field staff are recruited from among the artisan communities Jaipur Living works with and are equipped with a mobile-based app to track production, wages, and supply chain mapping. This innovative system improves efficiency and transparency throughout the production process.
Jaipur Living joins hand-production enterprises across seven countries that have earned the Nest Seal through concerted efforts to steward more socially responsible and economically sustainable relationships with more than 45,000 artisans across the globe, collectively.
“Jaipur Living’s commitment to ensuring the knotters and weavers who work from their homes and in small workshops are afforded the same rights, protections, and pay as workers in the formal economy is both admirable and the standard-bearer for how brands committed to ethical production should operate,” shares Rebecca van Bergen, Nest’s founder and executive director. “We are grateful Jaipur Living has adopted the Nest Standards across its supply chains in India, and we look forward to growing the program with its support.”
To date, the Nest Seal appears on over 400 products and across 2,000-plus retail stores, including Target and West Elm.