THEKO® against child labour
With our carpets, we can contribute our part to social justice and to the enhancement of ecological standards in this world. The Theo Keller GmbH is an original member of the RUGMARK foundation against illegal child labour in South Asia. Along with different carpet manufacturers, trading houses and aid organizations like terre des hommes, Misereor, UNICEF and Bread for the World we fight children’s exploitation in the carpet industry. Together we provide education and medical attendance for those children.
Our suppliers for hand-knotted and hand-tufted carpets from India, Nepal and Pakistan have committed to a child-labour-free manufacturing of our carpets. 1% of our earnings go directly to RUGMARK. The money is used for social projects such as building schools in India.
Every carpet exporter and manufacturer who is a member of RUGMARK, committs to the compliance of the following regulations:
- they don’t illegally employ kids less than 14 years old,
- they allow unheralded examinations by RUGMARK,
- they pay adequate wages (at least legal minimum wage) to their workers,
- they inform RUGMARK about every sale.
Every single carpet carrying a RUGMARK label is marked with a unique number that lets you backtrack the carpet to its original place of production.