Rugmark is a network of non-profit organizations dedicated to ending illegal child labour in the rug making industry. Founded in 1994 by children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, it provides a certification program that allows companies that pass inspection to attach a logo certifying that their product is made without child labour.
Media outlets world-wide have given detailed coverage to Rugmark. For example, The New York Times wrote, "the winsome, smiley-face Rugmark label certifies that products are made without child labor." According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "Rugmark has helped drastically reform the hand-knotted carpet industry in India, Nepal and Pakistan" The Chicago Tribune said, "The Rugmark label certifies that the product has not been made with child labor" The Philadelphia Inquirer concluded, "Rugmark is not just a symbol of quality. Its appearance on imported hand-knotted rugs is intended as a signal to consumers that child labor was not used in the production process." Channel 4 News in Belfast observed, "Rugmark is the best scheme for ensuring that carpets are slave free"
Responding to concern about violation of children’s rights during the 1980s, human rights organizations in Europe and India, along with UNICEF-India and the Indo-German Export Promotion Council, a German government agency, developed the RugMark program to provide assurance to consumers that the oriental carpets they were purchasing were made by adults rather than exploited children, and to provide for the long term educational and rehabilitation of children found working illegally on looms. Rugmark was formally launched in India in the fall of 1994.
Rugmark expanded into Nepal in 1996. Thereafter, negotiations with Rugmark programs in Germany, Nepal, India, and the U.S. resulted in the formal creation of Rugmark International. An international constitution was adopted in May 1998.
Rugmark International re-branded the certification program and introduced the GoodWeave label in 2009. The organization is also in the process of re-branding to GoodWeave. Today the international network comprises producing country offices in India and Nepal and consumer country offices in the US, UK, and Germany. GoodWeave Germany and GoodWeave UK are currently responsible for licensing throughout Europe while GoodWeave USA is responsible for licensing throughout North America.