Forbes did a piece recently entitled Second Acts: You 2.0 where I got to explain how our crew here is using a (relatively) small investment to effect massive positive change by bringing marketplace pressure to bear on the top brands in sporting goods, including the #1 recognized brand in the world, Nike.
Imagine a world where the Nike swoosh became a positive symbol to folks in producing countries around the world. Based on the improvements I’ve seen in recent years, I believe it can. I believe multinational corporations can reinvent “You 2.0″ versions of themselves as they move deeper into sustainability initiatives in an *authentic* manner.
I’m not alone in thinking this way. John Perkins, author and former economic hitman, states in one of his enlightening books:
“Those highly effective worldwide communications and distribution networks could be used to bring about positive and compassionate changes. Imagine if the Nike swoosh, McDonald’s arches, and Coca-Cola logo became symbols of companies whose primary goals were to clothe and feed the world’s poor in environmentally beneficial ways.
This is no more unrealistic than putting a man on the moon, breaking up the Soviet Union, or creating an infrastructure that allows those companies to reach every corner of the planet. We need a revolution in our approach to education, to empower ourselves and our children to think, to question, and to dare to act.
You can set an example. Be a teacher and a student; inspire everyone around you through your example.”
Fast Company journalist Ariel Schwartz recently summarized my thoughts from this past year brilliantly:
Sustainability is one area where trade secrets don’t make much sense–if you hide your energy-saving initiatives from competitors, you’re hurting the planet and preventing your entire industry from reaching green goals.
For three years we’ve made both subtle and blatant shout-outs to our Northwest neighbors – Nike, Adidas, and Baden – to introduce them to our technology and supply chain which brings Eco + Fair Trade Certified sports balls for soccer, football, basketball (and more) to the North American marketplace. Here’s another blatant shout out: take our technology!
Good gosh, you guys could flip your rubber sourcing over to eco-certified sources (no mono-cropping, wise forest management that considers the next seven generations, etc) with two phone calls. The first one to me, the second one to one of our suppliers in India or Sri Lanka. Come on, folks, you do not need to set up an entire consortium to make change happen fast…you simply have to pick up the phone.
I did not mean for this to be Slam On Nike Month, but these topics all appeared in my life at about the same time. And to be clear, I am a firm believer that we need to redeem large companies, not call for their destruction.
It is unrealistic to think that a corporation the size of Nike can be dismantled. It’s more realistic (and positive, and game-changing, and effective) to bring pressure on Nike to radically improve.
That pressure can be brought from both outside the organization as well as from the inside. MBAs like the ones I’m training this week at the University of Notre Dame – or the ones back at my “home” campus at Bainbridge Graduate Institute – are the most likely candidates to get inside companies like Nike, Adidas, Puma, and Baden to bring change from within. Positive change in the areas of eco-sustainability and human rights.
This week’s topic is running shoes; I personally can only get motivated to run if there’s a soccer ball involved. But now when I’m booting around one of our eco-friendly soccer balls at the park, I can now do so wearing a sustainable running shoe.
The good folks over at Alternative Energy recently alerted me to the accolades that Brooks Shoes deserves for their innovation eco-work. Their Green Silence running shoe has biodegradable soles, water-based adhesives, and 100 percent recycled packaging. Very cool. Recommended.
This is an eloquently said plan by a brilliant person (Darcy Winslow), but we’re still not sure why it is taking Nike (and Adidas) so long to green their sports balls. It’s a relatively simple matter to convert the rubber (which makes up 70% of a soccer ball) to an eco-certified source like we did two years ago.
Four brilliant students out of Harvard have recently created a new technology that can generate enough electricity to power a cell phone or lightbulb, which can literally be a lifesaver in rural African communities where 95% of the population has no ready access to electricity. And this new generator technologyis can be embedded in…a soccer ball!
Fair Trade Sports is excited to partner with the crew at Soccket to bring this positive life changing technology to deserving families all over the globe. What a great combination: the world’s first eco-certified soccer ball that delivers green power! A Fair Trade Certified soccer ball that fights child labor, that generates power for families by their own children’s play activities, delivered by a process that generates after-tax profits to fund children’s charities. What a win for kids!
And it gets even better for the children. The electricity generated by a Soccket-powered soccer ball can power a light bulb, replacing the typical kerosene lamps which cause the majority of child deaths in developing countries (more than malaria or AIDS). It’s a holistic, positive, upward spiral of a solution.
Jessica Lin, Managing Director at Soccket, is pictured here showing their embedded power-generating technology to the children of Durban, South Africa.
Keep watch on both our blogs for updates as the Soccket team begins embedding samples of their technology inside our eco-soccer balls.
I get to handle field questions from journalists each week here at FTS. It’s always refreshing to receive similair thoughtful questions from students writing in.
The below exchange is with a group of Junior High students in New York. It makes my day knowing there are young adults already thinking through these issues. Enjoy…
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On Jan 8, 2010, at 7:53 AM:
Dear Scott James,
We are two Junior High students. I think Fair Trade Sports is a good green company. The more synthetic leather and rubber you use, the better for the environment. We are also glad that you are helping people around the world. Since there are so many sport balls of the world, and that most of them aren’t eco-friendly, it is good to have a company like yours.
If people before had known that your sport balls are so eco-friendly, then chances are, people would want to buy your balls. I suggest you should advertise your company more. You would have good advertising material because you have the first eco-certified company and all of you sport balls are 100% sustainable.
Are you competing with other companies? We have found information and lots of cool facts on your website. Do you have any blogs on any other websites? Do you have stores all over the country, or just one particular location?
This company would really help the environment. If there were stores around our county we would really want to buy your sport balls. Thank you for reading our letter. I hope you consider our suggestions, and answer our questions.
Sincerely,
Two Junior High Students
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Dear students,
Thank you for the encouraging words; I will pass them on to the rest of our team later today.
Your suggestion of advertising more is a good idea. Rather than spend lots of money on advertising, we rely on folks like yourselves to help us spread the word for us. This allows us to use that money to help other people, and gives our champions (like you two) the opportunity to help. We call those champions “Ambassadors of Respect” as they help us spread the word that we need to respect the people who stitched the sports balls with which we play, train, and compete.
To answer your questions:
1. Are we competing with other companies? Yes and no. Yes, we compete with other sporting goods brands like Nike, Adidas, and Puma. But the answer is also No (or rather, Not Yet), given that those companies have not yet begun to produce eco-certified nor Fair Trade certified sports balls. We hope to encourage them to do so by demonstrating that a small team of people can figure how to do it, and that the marketplace is responding.
2. Do we have other websites? Yes, although they are all tied to our primary blog at www.fairtradesports.com. When we post new content on our blog, it is automatically sent to our Facebook and Twitter accounts. There are several other sites that pick up our content to replicate on their websites as well.
3. Where are our stores? We have small, medium, and large retail stores that carry our product line all over North America, as well as numerous online retailers. We like supporting the Go Local movement by allowing a local retailer to be the “face” of Fair Trade Sports for their town. You can help us with this by visiting your local sporting goods stores and Fair Trade/Eco stores and asking them to carry our product line. Tell them to visit www.fairtradesports.com/wholesale to learn more.
Thanks again for your encouraging words, good suggestions, and thoughtful questions. Please tell your teacher we said hello from Seattle. And please thank her for continuing to be one of our Ambassadors of Respect!
We recently found our soccer ball on the Staff Picks list at the toy megasite, TDmonthly. Then saw that we had been selected as the Toy of the Day, too. Hey, thanks!
While you are on their Staff Picks list, check out the handbag shaped like a pug. Hilarious.
From the folks who brought you the Fair Trade White House campaign…
Everyone should have the opportunity to declare their home to be Fair Trade, from the White House to your house. Join others around North America in their declaration of human rights as an integral part of our homes. Check out the Fair Trade My Home Facebook page, where you can join the campaign and upload photos of how you are brining Fair Trade items and practices into your home.
Our goal is to see how many North Americans will take this pledge by World Fair Trade Day on May 8, 2010. Join the campaign!
Forbes did a piece recently entitled Second Acts: You 2.0 where I got to explain how our crew here is using a (relatively) small investment to effect massive positive change by bringing marketplace pressure to bear on the top brands in sporting goods, including the #1 recognized brand in the world, Nike.
