The Goodwill Fabrics group is a family-owned business with two weaving factories in Bhilwara and Gwalior in North India, and four garment factories in Bangalore, in South India. Goodwill employ around 2000 people and are committed to several certifications to ensure fair working conditions, including BSCI and SA8000.

To ensure social responsibility, KCA establishes long term relationships with carefully selected suppliers. In addition to KCA’s own supplier visits, they rely on third-party certification. Social compliance is a part of GOTS that each production step in the supply chain must comply with. This gives KCA the opportunity to ensure that social standards are met throughout their supply chain and not only with their direct supplier.

In addition to GOTS, KCA seeks out suppliers that have been third-party certified by SA8000, BSCI and Fairtrade.

Flax (from which linen fibres are derived) is resilient and can grow in poor soil, using far less water in its cultivation than cotton. According to the European Confederation of Linen and Hemp, “Across its lifecycle, a linen shirt uses 6.4 litres of water” compared to 2,700 litres for a cotton shirt. (Good On You) Flax production also replenishes the soil with vital nutrients that are depleted by cotton. 

GOTS living wage policy currently only requires that national legal standards are met. We’d love to see KCA collaborate with an organisation like the Fair Wear Foundation to advance the complex topic of a real living wage for garment workers.