Crafteli is an Italian-inspired factory, making sportswear ethically.

From the statement above, two words briefly describe Crafteli, that is, Italian-inspired and ethical.

Why Italian?

Manufacturing is an art in Italy. That is why all employees, including the owner, view themselves as artists. This is the artisan concept that guides Crafteli in its day-to-day operation as a manufacturer of custom sublimated sportswear. As artisans, Crafteli employees visualize perfection even before the first stitch is sewn.

Why ethical?

To sustain its operation, Crafteli ensures that its manufacturing practices are ethical and designed to protect the welfare of its employees.

Recognizing the poor state of the female-dominated garment laborers in the Philippines, Crafteli started its sportswear business in 2010, following an ethical manufacturing set-up, away from the common sweat-shop approach.

Now, Crafteli has proven that being an ethical manufacturer makes good business sense as it results to better quality and higher productivity.

Whatever modest gains Crafteli has achieved from being an ethical manufacturer may be under threat because of the generally bad image of the Philippine garment sector, as written in some articles like the one below:
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The Poor State Of The Garment Sector

Anna McMullen from Labour Behind the Label explains that the clothing industry is far from being sweat-shop free:

"Poverty levels of pay remain a problem right across the clothing industry. In the Philippines for example, recent Playfair 2012 research found 50% of workers making Adidas Olympic-branded gear have to rely on loan shark payouts, while in China many workers can only afford to live in cramped dorms far from their families."

Based on a survey, factories in three countries – the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka – are not paying a decent wage to their combined 100,000-strong workforce. What the report also makes clear is that this is a gender issue: 76% of the surveyed workforce are women. Globalised supply chains exploit predominantly female labour. It's an irony that probably escapes most of the women who do the bulk of high street shopping in the west. Women shopping for products made by other, underpaid, exploited, women.

What's more, things seem to be getting worse, rather than better. Employment is becoming more precarious as more workers are put on to temporary contracts, day labour, on call rather than with permanent jobs. That enables employers to dodge holiday pay, sick pay and written contracts. Employers also imposed compulsory overtime, lower wages and higher production targets on workers on these short-term contracts.
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Crafteli believes that the bad image of the Philippine garment sector needs to be addressed seriously because it affects everyone.

Crafteli wants the global market to know that despite the negative publicity on the general state of the garment sector, it is still possible to buy ethically produced sportswear from the Philippines at competitive prices.

by Adrienne Selko

I just arrived home after a ten-day visit to both manufacturing companies and manufacturing trade shows across Italy.

Arranged by Machines Italia, as part of the Italian Trade Commission, I saw a variety of innovative products and production floors which I will write about over the next coming weeks.

A few things struck me as belonging particularly to manufacturing in Italy. The foremost is everyone I met, including company presidents and trade association representatives, view themselves as artists.

Manufacturing is an art in Italy.

Custom-designed machines (as well as production lines) are a result of craftsmanship. For the most part manufacturing is done by small to medium-sized family owned businesses that have passed knowledge from generation to generation.

And much of this knowledge is the ability to solve problems. Customers come to these shops seeking solutions and the companies create a machine to solve the problem. It is an approach different from how many people view manufacturing.

And with any craft, improvement is key. These companies will band together in a collaborative effort to further improve the overall knowledge of the field. While competitors, they view themselves as coming together to create a general standard which will improve the industry as a whole.