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What is the Fair Labor Association?
What role do colleges and universities play in the FLA?
Why does my company have to join the FLA?
Which licensee category is right for my company?
What is required of FLA-affiliated licensees?
Will my company's factory information be made public?
How do I join the FLA?

These questions and others are answered on the following pages.

What is the FLA?
The FLA was created to help eliminate sweatshop practices and improve working conditions in factories around the world.

Through the FLA, human rights groups, labor rights groups, religious groups, consumer groups, universities, and companies have worked together to create a workplace code of conduct that includes provisions on forced labor, child labor, harassment or abuse, nondiscrimination, health and safety, freedom of association and collective bargaining, wages and benefits, hours of work, and overtime compensation. They also have adopted a set of monitoring principles to determine whether companies are in compliance with FLA standards, and have created a procedure for investigating and responding to third party complaints of serious or persistent noncompliance with the code or the monitoring principles.

The FLA is governed by a 16- member Board of Directors that includes six company representatives, six representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), three university representatives, and an independent chair. The FLA office is located in Washington, D.C.

What role do colleges and universities play in the FLA?
In recent years, many colleges and universities have begun to seek assurances that products bearing their names are produced under fair and proper working conditions. In an effort to reach this goal, 190 institutions have affiliated with the FLA. As FLA members, schools require all of their licensees to participate in the FLA. Additionally, every FLA school requires the public disclosure of factory locations where its licensed products are manufactured.

All colleges and universities in the FLA belong to a University Advisory Council (UAC) that is governed by a 17-member executive committee.

Why does my company have to join the FLA?
In an attempt to improve the working conditions under which their licensed products are produced, FLA schools require their licensees to affiliate with the FLA. A licensee therefore cannot manufacture or distribute products bearing the logo of FLA member institutions unless the company first joins the FLA. In an effort to be fair to licensees of all sizes, there are different categories of licensee affiliation that allow for differing levels of participation and are based on a company's total annual revenues. Even though FLA affiliation is required, it is the hope of each FLA school that licensees will welcome the opportunity to join the FLA and see membership as an opportunity to help better the lives of the workers who contribute to the growth and success of their companies.

Which licensee category is right for my company?
The nature of participation by a company that is a college or university licensee depends on the size of the company. You should review the following information and decide which category is appropriate for your company.

Categories A/B: Category A requirements Category B requirements	Any company may participate in Category A or B, but if your company has total annual revenues of $50 million or greater, then you must choose either Category A or B. A Category A licensee is the same as an FLA Participating Company. It therefore must meet each of those requirements (found in the FLA Charter) and can qualify for FLA certification. Whereas Category A licensees subject all of their facilities to the FLA's monitoring process, Category B licensees submit to the FLA's monitoring process only those facilities that produce goods bearing the logos of FLA-affiliated colleges and universities. You should review the Category A requirements and Category B requirements (listed below) for more help in deciding which of these two categories is right for your company.
Category C: Category C requirements	Companies with annual consolidated revenues below $50 million that do not qualify for Category D and choose not to participate in Category A or B. Category C requirements are listed below.
Category D: Category D requirements	Companies with annual consolidated revenues below $5 million whose company-owned production and/or manufacturing facilities are located in the United States and either in the same state as, or within 200 miles of, the college or university for which it is a licensee. Category D requirements are listed below.

*Note: Licensee categories are based on a company's total annual revenues and not its revenues from the sale of collegiate goods.

Will my company's factory information be made public?
All FLA-affiliated schools have policies that require the public disclosure of the factory locations where their licensed products are made. Therefore, every licensee that joins the FLA will have its factory locations posted on the factory disclosure database, which can be found on the FLA website.

How do I join the FLA?
You can join the FLA by visiting the Licensee Help Center. Please fill out the appropriate online form for the category in which you wish to affiliate. A description of the categories and the program can be found at A description of the FLA Licensee Program.