Rug Mark

http://www.rugmark.org

RugMark recruits carpet producers and importers to make and sell carpets that are made without illegal child labor. RugMark certified companies agree to adhere to strict no-child-labor guidelines and by permit random inspections of their carpet looms. By doing so manufacturers earn the right to place the certified and individually numbered RugMark label on their carpets. If inspectors find children working on looms, they are offered the opportunity to go to school instead, and producers and importers lose the privilege to use the RugMark label.

When you purchase a rug with the RugMark certification label, you can be assured that:

• No child labor was used in the manufacture of a carpet or rug.
  
• RugMark inspectors have visited the loom or factory where the rug was made.
  
• A portion of the price of your rug pays for the education of former child laborers.
  
• You are helping to build a market for humanely produced goods and to put an end to the use of illegal child labor.
  
• Your rug is beautiful, inside and out.
  
• RugMark is making progress. In its first 10 years RugMark has helped to reduce child labor in the South Asian carpet industry by two-thirds.
  

In India  

• 269 exporters (15 % of all registered carpet looms) are licensed and inspected by RugMark.
  
• RugMark inspectors visit an average of 64 looms each day, resulting in more than 16,000 inspections a year.
  
• Six RugMark schools and one rehabilitation center provide education to nearly 2,000 former child laborers.
  

In Nepal

• More than 500 manufacturers (70% of Nepal’s carpet exports) are inspected by RugMark.
  
• Since 1996, nearly 35,000 inspections have taken place.
  
• Since 1995, more than 1,500 children have been offered the chance to go to school instead of work.
  

In Pakistan

• More than 21,000 looms are registered with RugMark.
  
• 13 carpet exporters and producers are licensed by RugMark.
  

Since 1995, RugMark has certified more than four million carpets.