On Thursday, I wrote about decisions by CafePress to eliminate a piece of American Apparel clothing from the items it makes available for sale, and to replace it with items from a new “CafePress Exclusive Label” brand. When I asked CafePress for sourcing information regarding the new CafePress brand, the Director of Merchandise for the corporation informed me that they “consider this information proprietary” and would not elaborate.

Following that exchange, I asked you if you’d send a note on to CafePress at one of two e-mail addresses:

a) Cindy Clarke, Director of Merchandise for CafePress, at cclarke@cafepress.com.
b) smart07@cafepress.com — the special e-mail account which CafePress has specifically created to take further questions about new merchandise

Now I’ve received a second note from Ms. Clarke:

I understand your concerns. CafePress shopkeepers require a broad spectrum of product choices to build their product assortments. Since our objective is to cover as many of those shopkeeper requirements as possible, some of the items that we source are domestic and some are sourced internationally. Likewise, our product assortment covers both branded and CafePress Exclusive Label items to meet the broad demand. We leave it up to Shopkeepers to determine which products are appropriate for their shops. CafePress services as many Shopkeepers as possible both legally and ethically.

We have had several requests like yours for specific and detailed information about our vendors and we are currently investigating how and when we can provide this information. Once more detailed information is available we will communicate out to the CafePress community.

Thanks very much.

Most of this message is as clear as mud, and intentionally so. For instance, while we already know that some of CafePress’ apparel is derived from international shops under the management of producers such as Hanes that have a poor ethical history, Clarke’s letter makes it unclear whether the CafePress Exclusive Label brand is sourced domestically or internationally. It is also an unfortunate turn of phrase to insist that “We leave it up to Shopkeepers to determine which products are appropriate for their shops,” when shopkeepers do not currently have the information necessary to make that determination.

However, there is an important shift in this letter. Clarke no longer claims that information about the sourcing of CafePress apparel is simply proprietary and therefore off-limits. Now the question is HOW and WHEN information will be communicated to shopkeepers. It’s movement, and that’s good.

Clarke implicitly ties a shift in CafePress’ consideration (if not yet a shift in action) to “several requests like yours for specific and detailed information about our vendors”. It’s an affirmation that activism works. If you’re one of the “several” making requests about apparel sourcing to CafePress, thanks. If you haven’t sent a note yet, please consider doing so. A minute or two of your time can help CafePress recognize the virtues of ethical transparency.