Saxony & AfghanMark
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Saxony & AfghanMark |
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Saxony Carpet Company is America’s First Showroom To Offer the New Socially Conscious AfghanMarkSM Brand of Carpets
(March 21, 2007, New York, NY) Saxony Carpet Company in New York is the first showroom in the U.S. to offer the newly launched, socially conscious AfghanMarkSM brand of carpets. The new AfghanMarkSM brand label certifies better pay rates, inspected working conditions, no illegal child labor and access to health care and education, including literacy training, for the Afghan women who work on the looms. The AfghanMarkSM brand label also certifies that the precisely hand-knotted, naturally dyed carpets are of “heirloom quality.” The announcement was made today jointly by Ms. Pennie S. Meiselman of Saxony Carpet Company in the famed Design & Decoration Building, 979 Third Ave, in New York City, and by the trade development director of the Afghan Women’s Business Federation (AWBF), Ms. Latifa Abasy of Kabul, who said, “our AfghanMarkSM brand is another example of how, after the Taliban, Afghan women are now taking their rightful places in society and in private enterprise, including the international carpet business.” The AWBF created and owns the AfghanMarkSM brand, which represents 10 women owned or women managed carpet-making companies and studios, and more than 27,000 Afghan loom workers. The AWBF has set weavers’ cash wages at 150% of the current rate plus an additional 10% at time of sale. “These wonderful carpets are available from Saxony through your designer, decorator or architect,” said Pennie S. Meiselman. “During the 60 years that Saxony has served the market, we’ve always been on the lookout for unique, better quality products and we have found exactly that in the AfghanMarkSM brand rugs, which are delicately hand-knotted of fine silks and wools, including sturdy, lustrous Gahzni wool from the sheep of Afghanistan. In addition to the excellent quality and design of the carpets, we are very impressed by the fact that the AfghanMarkSM brand empowers the women weavers of Afghanistan by giving them direct cash payment of better wages and access to education and healthcare. These talented, hard working women deserve to be rewarded fairly. And, by doing business with their companies directly, we can offer their beautiful carpets at competitive prices.” Saxony now offers area and room-size Gabbeh, Tabriz, Mamluk Sultan, Kazak, Parda Abrishimi, Agra and Chobi Afghan carpets bearing the socially conscious AfghanMarkSM brand.
[Editor: For more information about AfghanMarkSM, including a downloadable news release, AfghanMarkSM brand logos and 30+ photos of carpet-making, see www.AfghanMark.com/press. To contact Saxony Carpet Company call (212) 755-7100 or see www.saxcarpet.com]
USA Media Contact for AfghanMarkSM is Daniel Kennedy / Daniel Kennedy Communications Services of New York. Tel. (212) 580-3454 or Dkennedyco@aol.com |
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