Do The Right Thing (DTRT) Apparel

DTRT Apparel, located in Ghana’s capital, Accra, is West Africa’s largest apparel manufacturer and exporter. DTRT Apparel currently employs more than 2,500 employees; about 80% of them are women mainly from low-income households with little or no skills. DTRT has assembled a team of 35 expat managers from over 8 countries with hundreds of years of combined apparel factory management experience to transfer skills and knowledge to our local employees.

Our own leading sustainability standard, “Do The Right Thing”, establishes higher social compliance standards than the industry norm or the country’s legal minimum. At DTRT, we firmly uphold workers’ safety, fair salary, and health care as factors that cannot be negotiated or manipulated for financial gain. For more, please visit www.dtrtapparel.com

USAID PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) INITIATIVE

USAID supported DTRT Apparel with a $250,000 grant for the purchase of equipment, materials, factory labor/overhead and capital cost. The material, machinery and freight costs were extremely inflated during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

IMPACT

• DTRT leveraged USAID’s support to create 1,273 new jobs and repurpose 730 jobs between April, 2020 – March, 2021. The program achieved about 70% female participation.
• DTRT repurposed its production lines from the manufacturing of T-shirts, Polos, etc. to PPE, resulting in the production of 4,532,000 units of face masks, 18,900 units of hazmat suits and 26,000 protective aprons. Through these interventions, DTRT stayed resilient against the global and local economic shutdown during the pandemic.
• The program helped Ghanaians from low-income households earn wages and provide meals for their families. The beneficiaries are now modeling exemplary lives and healthy behaviors in their various communities owing to the USAID PPE initiative implemented by DTRT.