One of America’s most successful ethical manufacturing leaders, Joe Bozich, will speak at a public event at the University of Sydney’s Great Hall tomorrow afternoon Tuesday 27 March.

Mr Bozich, the founder of the biggest supplier of licensed college apparel in the US, Knights Apparel, will share how his Alta Gracia brand is employing a new model of ethical business through its factory in the Dominican Republic.

Mr Bozich is in Australia as a guest of the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney and NSW Trade & Investment. He will also be speaking at a breakfast roundtable for business and industry later in the week.

Alta Gracia, whose mission is “Changing Lives One Shirt At A Time,” is the only apparel brand in the world that has been independently verified to pay a "living wage" to the people making its clothing.

This means paying workers more than three times the minimum wage in the Dominican Republic so they can provide their families with food, clean water, clothing, housing, energy, transportation, child care, education and health care.

From the beginning, Bozich has engaged labour experts, retailers, university students and the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) in developing the Knights Apparel business model. His presentation will explain how this important collaboration is helping secure a sustainable pathway out of poverty for workers while also building the Alta Gracia Brand and strengthening Knights Apparel’s bottom line.

WHAT: Entrepreneurship and Human Rights: Knights Apparel’s ethical business model

WHEN: 4:30pm-6:00pm, Tuesday 27 March 2012

WHERE: Great Hall, Main Quadrangle, University of Sydney