Retailers Tap Holiday Giving Spirit

In this handout photo provided by the GAP, a RED candle is shown. GAP is one of a number of retailers this year who are tapping into consumers desire to do good deeds with their purchasing dollars. For the first time, many brand name companies are pledging to use money made from select products to support humanitarian causes. For the GAP, filling that demand means donating half the profits from all items marked with a Product Red label, to the Global Fund to fight AIDs. (AP Photo/Gap Inc.) (AP)

The Madison, Wisc.-based apparel maker recently launched its first line of "fair trade" clothing, meaning that all the clothes were made by workers in developing countries paid above minimum wage and not working in sweatshop conditions.

The term "fair trade" is typically applied to deals with farmers growing commodities like rice and sugar, but the founders of Fair Indigo are betting that the same consumers who drink fair trade coffee, if given the choice, will also opt for fair trade clothes.

"Clearly there are more people out there becoming more conscious of how their purchases affect society and the environment," said CEO Bill Bass, who co-founded the company after leaving his job as vice president of e-commerce at Lands' End.

Whereas in his previous job, Bass says he would push factory owners in Asia and Latin America to make clothes for less money, he is now insisting they take more money _ and pass it along to the workers.

"It really freaks some of them out," Bass said. "They realize pretty quickly though that this will actually reduce their turnover and help them attract the best workers."

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