Two years ago, WSU students joined a long line of college activists to protest Cougar gear made in sweatshops. In cardboard boxes emblazoned with their battle cry – “I’d Rather Go Naked than Wear Sweatshop Clothing” – Progressive Student Union members prepared to fight.

However, the fight was not to be had. WSU officials were already considering going sweatfree and signed a policy within a week, said Alyce Anderson, WSU trademark department program administrative manager.

“I think the PSU expected more of a push back,” Anderson said. “But it’s just the right thing to do.” The state of Washington is considering a similar measure. The House of Representatives Committee on Commerce and Labor held a work session in March to discuss why the state should put together a sweatfree-purchasing policy and how to do that.

Sweatfree means a product is not made under sweatshop conditions. Sweatshop conditions are any internationally recognized unsafe or unfair working conditions, said Kristen Beifus, SweatFree Washington coordinator at the March Commerce and Labor work session.

Sweatfree policies combat these issues by protecting workers and fighting a global economy based on exploitation and a race to create the cheapest products, said Rebecca Johnson, Washington State labor council government affairs director, at the March meeting.

“An injury to one is an injury to all,” Johnson said.

In October 2007, WSU signed on to the Worker Rights Consortium and the Free Labor Association. The WRC is a watchdog organization that monitors suppliers and works with them to fix violations, Anderson said. The FLA is an organization that all suppliers must be members of, to manufacture products with a Cougar logo, she said.

“These organizations get all people together working for solutions,” she said.

The price of Cougar gear has not increased significantly due to FLA membership, Anderson said, because many suppliers, such as Nike, were already members.

WSU also is working on a project to create apparel tags, which indicate that the product is sweatfree, Anderson said. She said she encourages students to look for the tag and purchase those products to show support for WSU's policy.

The state policy would be similar. It would join the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium, a group of almost 200 public institutions. The purpose is a collective effort for transparency from suppliers by pooling resources, said Dick Meyer, South Sound Clean Clothes Campaign founder, at the March meeting.

States in the U.S. spend $400 million per year on apparel such as uniforms for employees, Beifus said. A procurement policy will include standards for suppliers such as respecting international labor standards, submitting to investigation and necessary corrective action. The enforcement of this code is up to the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium, which uses members’ $500 initial fee and $5,000 yearly member fee to monitor and improve conditions, said Bjorn Claeson, executive director of SweatFree Communities.

However, joining these watchdog organizations does not make sweatfree purchasing “as simple as waving a magic wand,” Anderson said.

“It’s like saying your house will never catch on fire because you have insurance,” she said. The point of the policies is to find the problems and create solutions, she said.

The state’s sweatfree purchasing project is just beginning, Commerce and Labor Committee Chair, Steve Conway said during the work session. He said he and several other committee members are very interested in working toward a policy for Washington.

According to the Washington State Legislature Web site, the committee’s goal is to produce a policy by Jan. 1.