FASHION ‘The beautiful, gleaming surface of jewelry belies some ugly secrets- most of it is made under horribly unhealthy and unfair conditions, whether itis produced in the first or third world. At last there are alternatives to the long-held assumptions in the jewelry industry that manufacturing must be a toxic procedure, and that labor must be done by the overworked and underpaid, in order to keep production costs low on the already expensive materials. Interest in fair trade goods began with consumptives, mostly coffee and chocolate, but the idea is spreading to other commodities. For jewelry, this idea is just beginning to take hold and affect the industry, but itis likely to become quite widespread. Already, some of the largest mining groups have had to restructure their procedures, ‘making sure that conditions are safer, and environmental impact is minimized. This move has come from pressure by investors, most prominently from the Swedish National Pension fund, which invests widely in mining operations. Better conditions for the mining of metals and gems is the first step in making the jewelry industry less malevolent, but the production of the jewelly itself has been mostly exploitative for many years. Globalization took production ‘ut of the goldsmith’s studio and into dirty factories which rely on exploiting workers to turn a profit. Pressure from within the industry, as well as from consumers, has led to discussion and attention on this matter. Now there are ‘community-based producers in many countries which offer clean and fair manufacturing alternatives. Many of these adhere to guidelines created by the F.L.O.-Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (wwwairtrade.net). These guidelines require safe and sanitary working conditions, the provision of medical funds and profit-sharing for all employees, limits on working hours, fair wages, and minimizing of environmental damage. For more information, check out www faitjewelry.org, which reports on developing events in this field, and www.ifat.org, the global network of Fair Trade Organizations. The IFAT website provides contact information about fair trade producers of many types of goods, including jewelry, from all over the world. by Laura Rysman