Check out this fun review of our Fair Trade Soccer Ball on YouTube posted last week by Joel at LifeGoggles.

Joel, we agree that you have mad skillz! And we think you're right, the office probably isn't the best place for soccer. Next time, we suggest using our felt-covered Indoor Soccer Ball or our synthetic leather Futsal Ball.

It's finally that time of year again!

We are starting the countdown to the start of the regular Major League Soccer Season which kicks off (sorry, couldn't resist the pun) on March 29th at 4 pm E.S.T. featuring the Toronto FC vs. the Columbus Crew. Here in Seattle, we are also counting down to the addition of a pro team in our town coming in 2009.

While the MLS doesn’t use our Fair Trade soccer balls (yet), you can order all your soccer gear for your season from our online store any time. Wholesale discounts start at quantities of 10 balls per order.

The Spring 2008 premier print edition of The Green Guide Magazine from National Geographic hit newsstands on March 4.

In keeping with their green roots, The Green Guide is made of post-consumer recycled paper with new pulp from wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (yes, the same group that certifies our rubber). In addition, the inks are made without heavy metals to keep the eco-footprint even lower. When you pick up your copy, check out Fair Trade Sports featured on Page 12.

Click here for a sneak peek.

I recently wrote a piece about guerrilla marketing tactics (read: you have little to no budget to spend) that small businesses and nonprofit organizations can use to increase sales or expand the reach of their causes.

I've found guerrilla marketing for our Fair Trade soccer balls to be both fun and frustrating. Fun because I enjoy seeing Fair Trade Sports budget dollars go to our adult stitchers, rather than marketing items like huge celebrity advertising campaigns. But frustrating because relying on positive word of mouth as your primary advertising tool is an inexact science.

If that sounds interesting, check out the article on Green Guys Global. While you are there, be sure to jump over to their sister site Green Girls Global. Both sites are highly recommended.

Sameena Nyaz is 18 years old, single, and lives in a village called Chak Gillan, near Sialkot, the world capital of soccer ball production in Pakistan.

Her father runs the snack shop in the soccer ball stitching center 200 yards away, which was built by Talon Sports, our Fair Trade soccer ball supplier. Sameena goes there to stitch soccer balls, too. After home-based stitching stopped, the center became one of the first places where women could continue such work. As companies moved the work into big factory units in order to prevent child labor, they effectively locked out women who could not be away from home for the whole day.

Sameena is one of 11 siblings, seven sisters and four brothers. Two of the older ones also stitch balls. Stitching wages are low - only Fair Trade buyers like Fair Trade Sports pay enough to enable the three to provide their family with all the basic necessities.

Sameena never had the chance to attend school - instead, she has been contributing to the family income from early on, and has now been stitching for three years. The family has a small hut and a kitchen garden, where everyone helps out.

Recently Sameena had to have a thyroid operation - the bandage on her neck was still there. All costs were paid by the Talon Fair Trade Welfare Society - the health care program made possible by the Fair Trade premiums, a first for workers, which include Sameena and her family.

Warning: This is my blatant sales pitch for a hip new shoe company out on the East Coast. While I normally believe in controlling our consumerist tendencies, you really need a pair of these shoes!

If you still lace up a beat-up, worn-down, just-plain-falling-apart pair of classic Chuck Taylor sneakers, then I've got news for you.

Before you hand $50 over to a corporate machine brand like Nike (they bought the financially-ailing Converse in 2003), check out the ultimate ethical alternative from my friend Anne at www.autonomieproject.com...the new Ethletic brand (ethics + athletic = Ethletic!).

These kicks are Fair Trade and eco-friendly so your feet, social conscious and green lifestyle can now all get along!  Made with the same FSC-certified all natural and sustainable rubber that we use in our Fair Trade soccer balls, they are also moving to Fair Trade certified, organic cotton canvas and shoelaces in the coming months.

Ethletic shoes are made by adult workers - not children - in Fair Trade environments, which means the people who made your shoes are being paid a fair wage, have access to health care and micro credit loans. Each pair is stamped with the FSC logo on the sole so you can rest easy that your carbon footprint truly is green! (Sorry, bad joke, could not resist.)

So be ethical.  Buy Ethletic.

Kitman is 67 years old and still works a full-time job. Since he started working, he has been a rubber tapper on the Frocester Plantation in Sri Lanka.

By local standards, Kitman is a successful man. Each of his seven sons has found work in the capital of Colombo (two hours away by bus). The eldest son is in charge of a small business, two have become tailors, two work as drivers, and two are employed as shop assistants. One of his daughters is a teacher, while the other works as a rubber tapper on the same plantation as her father.

With their joint savings, Kitman has managed to improve the basic accommodations provided by the plantation to the extent that the structure of what once was called battery housing is hardly noticeable anymore. The house is currently being occupied by nine people: Kitman and his wife, three of their daughters-in-law and two grandchildren, as well as their daughters.

The house has one major drawback, however; there is no running water.

Water must be fetched from an open well that is 100 yards across the village road. According to the medical officer of the plantation, many people in the area suffer from dysentery and other water-borne diseases as a result of the lack of a safe water supply.

In an agreement with the plantation owners (the first Fair Trade deal in rubber), our group ordered rubber for our products (the inside air bladder of a Fair Trade soccer ball is made of latex, which comes from rubber) and paid a Fair Trade premium for it.

In line with Fair Trade criteria, the management and the workers established a Fair Trade Welfare Society and jointly decided how this money would be spent. One project will be the installation of a pump and a piping system, so that 20 households around the well will each get a tap in front of their unit. Kitman's house is one of them.

The other major Fair Trade project agreed upon is the restoration of a restroom for the workers at one latex collection station, which includes a canteen area to keep food safely and a unit with sanitary latrines, along with a place where workers (mostly women) can change into their working clothes.

Arguably, all of this should have been provided by plantation management, particularly since rubber is selling well right now with strong global demand. However, our purchases of rubber have led to an agreement that management will provide the funds to ensure that these projects will be completed, even though the initial Fair Trade premium is not enough to cover the costs.