Assisi Garments was Founded by Franciscan nuns in 1994 to create a livelihood for the deaf community. Assisi Garments now offers approximately 300 underprivileged women and nearly 120 physically challenged people in southern India jobs with fair trade wages, health care, and other benefits.

Profits are used to care for abandoned leprosy survivors, treat cancer patients in its hospital that accommodates up to 600 patients, run a boarding school for almost 50 blind children, and another boarding school for 200 deaf children, plus build a clinic for HIV/AIDs care.

With a deep concern for the environment and the health of mankind, they use only organic cotton grown and picked by hundreds of certified fair trade organic farmers in Maharashtra India for their clothing. Conventionally grown cotton uses more pesticides than any other crop — almost a third of a pound of pesticides and fertilizers go into a simple T-shirt. They recognized that pesticides cause health problems for farmers in India, so the Assisi Sisters and Assisi Garments support the fight against cancer by endorsing organic cotton production, and by treating people people their cancer clinics and hospital wards.