Factory Standard for Apparel & Home Goods
Standard
Requirements and compliance criteria for apparel and home goods factories to keep factories safe and workers empowered.
Policies
Glossary
Provides definitions for the terminology used in Fair Trade USA® standards, compliance criteria, and associated documents.
Apparel and Home Goods Program Assurance Manual
Describes requirements for all assurance procedures related to compliance assessment and certification under the Fair Trade USA Factory program.
Requirements for Certificate Scope
Policy which defines the entities and activities which must be included in the scope of the Certificate, and thus the audit, under the Factory Standard.
Changes to Certificate Scope Procedure
This procedure outlines the requirements to change the scope of a Certificate between audits.
Policy on Identifying the Premium Participants
Policy which defines who must and who may be included as part of the Fair Trade Premium Participants.
Unannounced Audit Policy
Describes the circumstances where an unannounced audit may take place and the compliance assessment process.
Exceptions Policy
Describes the process by which exceptions are considered and granted in a fair, consistent, and non-discriminatory manner.
Exception Request Form
This form accompanies the Exceptions Policy and must be completed and submitted for an exception request.
Policy on Zero Tolerance Issues
Fair Trade USA's zero tolerance stance on issues that present the greatest threat to our mission, and how those issues are remediated.
Supporting guidance
Factory Program Guidebook
Helps factories implement their fair trade certification program and provides a high-level summary of the entire journey to certification and beyond.
Guidance for Determining Scope
Provides clarification and examples on the requirements of the Requirements for Certificate Scope, defining what sites and activities must be included under a Certificate.
Guide to Identifying the Premium Participants
Provides further clarification and examples on the requirements in the Identifying the Premium Participants policy document.
Trade Standard Summary for Certificate Holders
Overview of Certificate Holder rights under the Trade Standard.
How we set and revise our standards
Standards development and revision
In accordance with ISEAL, the Factory Standard will be reviewed at least every five years. The next revision is planned for 2018-2019.
Handling complaints
To submit a formal complaint against the Fair Trade USA standard-setting process, or to see how we handle complaints, download our Procedural Complaints Policy (in English, en Español).
Legacy standards
Any time we update our standards, we will give our partners a transition period to comply with any new changes. During that time, both old and new versions of the standard will be available online.
Need to report an issue?
If something isn't right, we want to address it. Anyone can report an issue or access our Complaints Procedure at the link below.