Blue Tin Production

We are entirely run, led, and operated by Black and brown women. Blue Tin Production is an apparel manufacturing workers co-operative run by immigrant and refugee women working to use a creative, arts-based approach to systems change. Blue Tin works to fill a major gap in sustainable and ethical production within the fashion industry while simultaneously centering the economic mobility of women of color who sit at the intersections of violence, trauma, and systemic oppression. Members range from domestic violence survivors from Nigeria to mothers fleeing political persecution in Turkey, and have been trained to manage and run the co-operative independently in order to put agency and power back into the very hands of those who have been systematically disenfranchised. Blue Tin Production is centered on re-imagining labor in the fashion industry. Along with providing holistic, wrap-around services for all of the members (including healthcare, mental health, social services, transportation, and other services as needed), Blue Tin takes a radical shift from traditional factory allocations of funds. While the average fast-fashion factory globally only allocates less than 1% of total revenue toward their labor force, Blue Tin has directed on average 60-80% of incoming revenue from contracts and client work toward labor. In terms of sustainability, in 2019 we purchased zero plastic and produced minimal waste--no small feat given the fashion industry produces more than 92 million tons of waste annually. Exploring zero/minimal-waste alternatives is a major impact goal for us as we build and develop circular economies of sustainability here in Chicago. Blue Tin works to destabilize the normalization of sweatshops and exploitative labor conditions that plague the industry, while developing long-term racial equity locally. To do so, Blue Tin works with designers nationally to produce their clothing, host events and studio visits to educate the greater community of consumers on ethical and sustainable clothing, and work in collaboration with international human rights organizations and garment worker unions globally to develop a new standard in garment production. Blue Tin produces thousands of garments annually for designers around the world and is cited by global fashion leaders as a unique model with innovative approaches to some of the most pressing issues facing supply chains while meeting the critical needs of those marginalized by the industry. Ultimately, Blue Tin Production addresses a root cause of the racial wealth gap by building leadership potential and holistic economic self-determination, and is built and run by and for communities that sit at the various intersections of need.