Sport
Sports clothing (made in many places, worn in many places)
Advertising campaign (2018): it's the 30th anniversary of Nike's 'Just Do it' campaign. So the brand most associated with sweatshops hires Colin Kaepernick - the quarterback notorious for taking the knee in support of Black Lives Matter - to front it. It's sooo controversial. People who don't like BLM burn their Nike gear & boycott the brand. Others concerned about sweatshop workers of colour making this stuff in the Global South ask why these Black Lives don't matter to Nike. It's called woke-washing. Who and what is it good for? Click for more...
Sports shoes (made in worldwide, used worldwide)
Computer game (2006): designer Jonny Norridge creates a game to simulate the experence of shoe factory work. You slide shoe panels into place with your mouse. It 'pings' when one's made. Then you make the next one. The clock ticks. Your energy levels fall. Your pay is terrible. It's not enough to buy the food that you and your family need. You are interrupted by your boss talking about targets. He doesn't like it when you want to join a union. Can this help you to empathise with real shoe factory workers? Click for more...
Sports shoes (made in Indonesia, sold in North America)
Speaker tour (1996 & 1997): Nike factory worker Cicih Sukaesih is sacked for organising a strike for minimum wages and better conditions. North American anti-sweatshop organisations recruit her to front a multi-city tour. She wants Nike CEO Phil Knight and basketball star Michael Jordan to explain the price of the shoes she has made, their astronomical pay and her colleagues' extraordinarily bad pay and conditions. She visits Nike's HQ, leads protests at its stores, and then tries on a pair of Nike tennis shoes for the first time. Click for more...
Sports shoes (made in Vietnam, used worldwide)
Culture jam (2001): student Jonah Peretti experiments with Nike's offer to customise its shoes with words you type into itsID website. When he chooses 'sweatshop', Nike say no. Peretti replies, arguing it's OK. They reply, etc. They just won't let him do it. So he forwards the conversation to friends by emai. They forward it to friends, and ... Within six weeks mllions see it and he is on national US TV debating sweatshops with a Nike executive. How did this go viral before even facebook existed? Click for more...
Rugby balls (made in the India, used worldwide)
Student newspaper article (2014): student Will Kelleher is a huge rugby fan, and researches who made his favourite ball for his undergraduate dissertation. The company is, to begin with, very helpful but he soon finds their story to be inaccurate. When they read the article he's about to publish, they accuse him of fabricating evidence and warn that publication could have legal repercussions. The newspaper pulls the story. But, there's another option: redaction. Click for more...
Tennis balls (made in the Philippines, used in the UK)
Newspaper article (2002): it's the first day of the Wimbledon tennis tournament where 48,000 Slazenger tennis balls will be famous for a fortnight. Journalist Fran Abrams traces the origins of these balls, finding that they're made from ingredients sourced from 9 countries, and from the work of people living all over the world. Click for more...