Someone in Boulder loves us. Maybe even two people. And at least one of them gave us an award.

The often-hilarious, always-poignant elephant journal recently told us we won their 2008 Mindful Life Award which, quite frankly, left me speechless for a few minutes (which is tough to do, that's why I get to write the blog).

If you are new to elephant, you can order their Summer issue here. And for a sneak peek of the award article, check out this PDF file.

Being told by a group of focused Buddhists that you are receiving their annual award for being mindful is a pretty heavy thing to tell our ad hoc group of Fair Trade activists and eco-warriors. I'm pleased to be a part of any group who's tagline is The Mindful Life and whose mission is to help "create an enlightened society". I'm honored to walk beside these folks in our journey together.

So from our crew to Waylon, Heather, and the rest of the eleCrew...thank you.

Bijad is 24 years old and single. He was born in Gidpur, Pakistan and went to school in nearby Sialkot. He started stitching soccer balls to help his family when he was 18. He used to stitch four or five soccer balls in a day.

Bijad likes Pakistani music and playing pool, so when he was 20 years old, he took out a micro-credit loan through our group's Fair Trade fund at or manufacturer's Sialkot location and purchased a small building with a pool table. Bijad spent the rest of the loan money on equipment to set up a barbershop.

While he can earn quite a bit of money every day for offering shaves to supplement his income from the pool table business, it is from pool that Bijad earns a good income...twice what he earned from stitching soccer balls. He completely paid off the loan in 25 installments over two years.

The pool table also offers a welcome form of entertainment in a poor village where there is very little in the way of entertainment options for young people. His friend, Mohamed, is keen to point out that "This is the best thing to do here; before we got bored."

We spent a chilly day at University of Washington recently, talking with undergraduate students about the many aspects of Fair Trade.

We were kept well-fueled by friends from Honest Tea, Numi Tea, and Equal Exchange while seeing first-hand the passion college students have for Fair Trade.

Here's the video from Joel Shapiro.

Ode Magazine, the "online community for Intelligent Optimists", has recently launched their marketplace, offering sustainable and fair trade products that enrich lives while serving the planet. We're honored to have them join our family of online retailers.

Find out what products make Intelligent Optimists smile...

If you did not catch the What Would Jesus Buy? docu-comedy at your local indie theater yet, please put the it on your to-do list now.

You don't have to be religious to appreciate Reverend Billy's no-nonsense "stop shopping" message. He presents it in a manner which is hilarious, challenging, and incredibly effective. Susan and I were only 15 minutes into the film before we began arguing about our recent purchases!

The DVD was just released a few weeks ago, so (irony alert) be sure you go buy yourself a copy right away.

Reverend Billy's message about American's over-consumption struck home with me, for both my personal consumption, as well as my professional roles doing the marketing for two ecommerce operations (Fair Trade Sports and the abolitionist Not For Sale Campaign). Some folks would say that getting people to buy stuff is at the very core of what I do. Geesh, I even teach MBA candidates how to do the same thing at the sustainable MBA program Bainbridge Graduate Institute.

So where does a person who's primary skill set revolves around Marketing fit in a country that honestly needs to buy less stuff? I don't know. I've struggled with this before, and likely will for quite awhile. My current focus is on getting folks who buy stuff to at least buy good stuff. Sweatshop-free stuff. Eco-friendly stuff. Union-made stuff. Fair Trade stuff. But it's still shopping; it's still consumption.

I often explain to folks interested in our company that I'd first rather have them purchase a used sports ball from a neighbor or an outfit like Play It Again Sports. Then, if they can't find what they're looking for, to make sure to buy a ball they know was made from certified environmentally friendly materials by adult workers paid a certified fair wage. For now, that gives you only one choice...us.

:)

I was also recently asked, so what do you think Jesus would buy? My response was, "Reverend Billy's DVD. And then after watching it, I think he'd give it away to spread the message even further." Watch it, enjoy the laughter, and the challenges. Highly recommended.

We've gotten several emails recently asking about the new big black box with a ‘B’ that's been sitting on the right side of our homepage the last few weeks. It distinguishes us as a B Corporation™ – a tool that’s intended to help consumers differentiate “green washing” from truly sustainable businesses.

We are proud to be in good company with other founding members of B Corporations™ that set a higher standard for the social and environmental company performance. B Corporations™ are a new type of corporation that are purpose-driven and create benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

B Corporations™ are unlike traditional responsible businesses because they:

1. Meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards.

2. Institutionalize stakeholder interests.

3. Build collective voice though the power of a unifying brand.

To become a B Corporation™, businesses must complete an extensive survey of their social and environmental business practices to see how they stack up to the criteria set by the advisory board and founding members. If accepted, companies must also amend their corporate governing documents to incorporate the interests of the employees, community, and environment.

To see our fellow purpose-driven companies in our pursuit of a new, better corporate standard visit the B Corporation™ website.

June 12 is World Day Against Child Labor.

Ending the economic exploitation of children can only be possible when free, compulsory and quality education is assured for all children regardless of gender, race, religion, and social or economic status.

The elimination of child labor and education for all are two sides of one coin. Just as we fight against child labor at the beginning of our product cycle with our certified Fair Trade soccer balls, we also encourage children's education at the end of our product cycle by pushing our after-tax profits to Room to Read and Boys & Girls Club of America. Until we begin producing significant after-tax profits, Fair Trade Sports donates $1000 annually to each of these organizations. Learn more here.

Please consider doing the same with your charitable dollars this year, and help fight child labor through education.

Whether your father is an armchair quarterback or the real thing, the world's first eco-certified Fair Trade football might be just the thing for him this Father's Day.

But if he has enough sports balls in his life already, you can’t go wrong with the classic big hug + “thanks for raising me even when I was an insane teenager” Father’s Day gift.

For our local readers, here's a quick bit of news on an exciting development for Seattle.

San Francisco, Portland, Olympia and many cities across the country have passed SweatFree ordinances for procurement by their city. In the South Puget Sound, the Clean Clothes campaign is working to make Washington State SweatFree. These campaigns are part of a national SweatFree Communities network run by Liana Foxvog, who is the rock star of organizers.

It is time for Seattle to become SweatFree. Fair trade, labor, environmental, religious, academic and social justice groups and committed individuals need to join together to insure that the buying in our city supports ethical labor practices and healthy communities. And we need your help to make SweatFree Seattle a reality!

Here are two ways you can engage with the team:

1. Join the SweatFree Seattle organizing meeting on June 23rd from 4-7pm at the offices of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition (606 Maynard Ave S, Suite 252 in Seattle).

2. Make a donation to support this campaign. Specifically, we are fundraising to help Portland’s Lead SweatFree organizer, Elizabeth Swagger, travel to Washington to share her experiences and galvanize the SweatFree Seattle team.

For more information on either of these, please contact Kristen Beifus at 206.437.5599 or kbeifus@globalgoodspartners.org.

Thank you, Seattle!

At Fair Trade Sports, we talk a lot about using FSC-certified latex to make the air bladders inside our sports balls to keep our eco-footprint low. Here's why the air bladders in our sports balls are so important to the final product.

The inner air bladder makes up 70% of the weight in the final sports ball that you purchase from us. In soccer balls, air bladders are usually made from natural latex or butyl (artificial rubber). Latex bladders tend to provide a better surface tension, feel and response than butyl. They also need to be re-inflated every now and again, which is why every Fair Trade Sports soccer ball comes with a re-inflation needle to get the job done.

To make an air bladder, the raw natural latex material is slowly heated and forced into a mold, where it forms a balloon. The latex wrinkles as it cools, so when they are removed from the mold, they are partially inflated to smooth them out before the air valve is attached. To get a better idea of what this looks like, take a look at the cool graphic we borrowed from Angela Woodward’s article on how a soccer ball is created.

Once the bladder is completed, it is put inside the stitched shell of the ball (see our previous post on how the outside is made) and inflated. And voila – a Fair Trade eco-soccer ball is born!