Jooble Organic Cotton Stuffed Animal Toys. Photo provided by Fair Indigo.
MADISION, Wis.- Fair Indigo, a multi-developer and distributor of toys and clothing, has just received the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award for its Organic Cotton Joobles Collection. Joobles is the product name given to the company’s collection for now 10 stuffed animal toys. The name Jooble symbolizes joy and happiness, according to Jody Fossum, director of product development at Fair Indigo. “Inspiration for the toys came last October when we were visiting a knitting facility in Peru and watching their Fair Trade operating standards. We said what a great way to make incredibly friendly safe toys that are cute and whimsical for children,” said Ms. Fossum. Fair Trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach to promoting sustainability and empowering producers in developing country. The movement advocates the payment of a fair prices as well as social and environmental standards in areas related to production. It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries. The Joobles, in particular, are manufactured by a family-owned business in Lima, Peru, under Fair Trade standards. Ms. Fossum added, “The facility that we work with is a really wonderful facility. It’s a mother, father, and a daughter that own this facility. They also work with wonderful little coops around the Lima area, and the reason that it’s so important is because yes all the people that live in these little towns could come into the city of Lima to work at the facility, but unfortunately, then the poverty rate rises. “So they stay in their communities where they feel comfortable, and the facility takes the yarn to these little coops. They knit the products, which then come back to the major facility for quality auditing to make sure that all the products are a consistent quality.” The construction of the Joobles is a 100 percent organic cotton outer skin and the filling is 100 percent virgin polyester, according to Ms. Fossum. With regard to the Oppenheim award, Ms. Fossum said, “This is huge for Fair Indigo because it is an eco-friendly toy and we are a new company. It also means a lot to the parents, and of course the store buyers who put our products in the stores.” While Oppenheim representatives were unavailable to comment by positing time, the company’s information provides award criteria which include safe design and fitting developmental needs. Fair Indigo is also in the running for Oppenheim’s Platinum Seal Award, which is scheduled to be announced toward the end of the year. In other news, Fair Indigo has also entered into a mentoring and warehouse facility sharing partnership with Sustain, a Louisville, Ky.-based retailer of environmentally friendly household products ranging the gamut from children’s toys, clothing, kitchenware, to composting machines. Ms. Fossum said, “It really provides a great partnership for both of us. They are a young startup company and they can learn a lot from our experiences. We are also sharing our space with them, which we feel is a great way to use our resources.” Mark Appleberry, chief executive officer of Sustain, said, “The gang at Fair Indigo brings a lot of experience to the table, including background in retailing and e-commerce. Also, in contracting with them to take some of their warehouse space, it just ended up being a great partnership where we could utilize their skill set and personnel for much less risk and expense than if we had to build it on our own.” Sustain has just re-launched its website at sustainstores.com, adding its new product lines and a blog as an educational component. The company as a whole has recently restructured itself by expanding from solely an environmentally-friendly children’s clothing store to it’s current full department store model.