Anvil Launches Organic Garden Program with Schools to Celebrate Earth Day 2012

Anvil Knitwear, the New York manufacturer of the Anvil Eco Collection for the imprintables and private label apparel markets, announced its sponsorship of the Earth Day Organic Indoor Learning Garden program in partnership with Earth Day New York. The program provides organic container gardens to classrooms in public schools in New York City. Anvil Knitwear's goal is to equip 10 percent of the city's schools with an organic garden by next year's Earth Day 2013 Celebration.

"These organic gardens are an extension of Anvil's TrackMyT program and help school children learn to appreciate the benefits of organic farming and the positive effects it can have on the environment," said Caterina Conti, executive vice president and head of sustainability for Anvil Knitwear.

The Earth Day Organic Indoor Learning Gardens are container garden kits suitable for use in classrooms or other teaching spaces and contain organic soil, organic seeds, and instructions for planting and care. The gardens also come with an organic farming instructor's guide to leverage the garden as a teaching tool. This launch of Earth Day Organic Indoor Learning Garden kits features lettuce seeds and grows edible greens in about six weeks.

Anvil Knitwear is a vocal global advocate for organic farming and the largest purchaser of U.S. grown organic and transitional cotton. The AnvilOrganic line is ranked one of the top 10 organic cotton apparel programs in the world. Recognized as a company with a strong and well-documented commitment to corporate and social responsibility, Anvil Knitwear actively supports organic farming beyond just organic cotton for apparel to organic farming as a whole. "We believe that when people choose organic for their tables or for their closets, those choices ultimately contribute to making the Earth a better place to live and work," Conti said. The Earth Day Organic Indoor Learning Garden program is a grassroots effort to educate children who will, in turn, educate their families and influence choices they make.

Anvil Knitwear piloted the Earth Day Organic Learning Garden program with 20 schools and received positive reviews from students and educators. Anvil Knitwear's post-launch goals for the program include extending beyond their New York City community and inspiring other like-minded companies and individuals to join in to implement the program in their own communities.

For more information, visit www.AnvilKnitwearCSR.com or The Earth Day New York website at www.EarthDayNY.org.