These are better balls: Footballs and more from Fair Trade Sports
I guess I’d never really thought about it—who makes that football we toss around on Thanksgiving weekend? So I found it new and interesting to learn about Fair Trade Sports, a company based in Bainbridge Island, Washington.
The mission of Fair Trade Sports is as much about awareness as it is about sales. Their blog is packed full of information about environmental and labor issues surrounding the production of sports balls used worldwide, from the pee-wee practice field on up through pro sports.
The reality is that around 70% of the world’s sports balls are manufactured in Sialkot, Pakistan, where child labor has been a growing problem since the 1960s. Legislation has helped, but according to Scott James, Fair Trade Sports founder, “children are still working in manufacturing industries in Pakistan today because companies sourcing work there have failed to pay the adult workers a living wage,” so families put the kids to work to make ends meet. Little fingers stitching thick, tough materials.
Reality’s a bitch sometimes isn’t it?
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