One of the primary goals of Fair Trade Sports as a company is to show the Top 5 international brands for sporting goods that a certified Fair Trade sports ball line is possible, and exactly what the marketplace wants now.
I’ve said from Day One that if we can get one of the Top 5 brands to convert to certified Fair Trade, then Fair Trade Sports has won! If we get one of the top multinationals to convert to certified Fair Trade, then it brings enormous pressure on the remaining players to follow. We’ve received inquiries previously from another Top 5 sports ball player – Baden, which is headquartered near us in the Seattle area. Baden’s European sales manager told us he is in need of a certified Fair Trade line of sports balls for his market, but this new Puma project is the first we’ve seen of actual production certified Fair Trade balls from a Top 5 player. It looks like we might be edging closer to meeting one of our goals.
As reported by Zarah Patriana at Change.org, PUMA has decided to produce 5,000 Fair Trade soccer balls for use in Bavarian and South African schools. Needless to say, I was ecstatic when I heard this. But what about the rest of their product? 5,000 balls is a rounding error compared to the number of sports balls that PUMA produces every year – the rest of which is NOT certified Fair Trade. It this was going for one specific small project. This is also a far cry from being available in all their North American retails outlets (they are not).
So where do we go from here? Well, If we can encourage them to repeat this – to the point where they make a company-wide, permanent commitment to Fair Trade – then we win! Now that we know that PUMA is beginning to take a more progressive stance on the subject of Fair Trade, we need to pounce (sorry, bad pun) with positive encouragement to them.
PUMA needs to understand that it CAN make its entire sports ball line certified Fair Trade (and match our eco-certification, too) and still stay profitable. In fact, their profitability may well increase once people are made more aware of the steps they are taking to ensure that the people they employ are fairly compensated and treated with respect.
Our own supply chain is still unique as far as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) eco-certification we have for our sports balls with our Fair Trade rubber. Can PUMA explore this route? Certainly – and they should. After all, it’s not enough to simply take one precaution and ignore all the other elephants in the room; once your awareness has been raised, it is your responsibility to act on it.
So join me in congratulating PUMA for taking this first baby step, and encouraging them to continue and expand their efforts.
