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Melbourne sportswear manufacturer, Protop Australia, is the latest business to successfully complete Ethical Clothing Australia’s accreditation process.

The family business, established in 1985, continues to build on its vast experience of high-volume manufacturing and has the capacity to produce 6500 garments a week all under the one roof in Thomastown.

Protop’s managing director, Charles Jones, said he was very confident that the business was meeting the various legal requirements that the accreditation process aims to ensure, but he wanted a way to have the business’s high standards recognised in a formal way.

“Protop is the accredited Nike production facility for the Pacific Rim, so we are obviously very familiar with these kinds of processes. But there is also a certain appeal of supporting an initiative that aims to service and promote the ethical players within the local Australian industry,” Mr Jones said.

The joint business-union accreditation system assists clothing businesses to ensure that Australian workers throughout their supply chain receive fair wages and work in decent conditions. Accredited businesses are licensed to display the Ethical Clothing Australia trademark on their Australian-made garments.

Ethical Clothing Australia’s national coordinator, Emer Diviney, said interest from sportswear, work-wear, and corporate-wear manufacturers has significantly increased following the introduction of the Commonwealth Government’s Fairwork Principles which require clothing businesses tendering for Government contracts to be registered with Ethical Clothing Australia.

“The benefits of accreditation are growing. It is clear that the consumer market is already responding very positively to brands that are embracing credible ethical verification systems such as ours. And now with more governments and peak bodies also getting behind the initiative, the early adopters are very well positioned to make the most of it,” Ms Diviney said.

For more information, please contact:
Ethical Clothing Australia - Tommy Clarke, media & communications coordinator, on 0404 328 078 or tommy@ethcialclothingaustralia.org.au 
Protops Australia – Alasdair MacKinnon on 0417 500 641 or alasdair@orangechairs.com.au