...it would be hard not to after watching Radiohead's "All I Need" video that they did with MTV's EXIT initiative (End eXploitation and Trafficking).

The video (shown to the right) shows a split screen, depicting a day in the life of a well-off child from a Western country versus a day in the life of a poor child who is forced to work in a shoe factory sweatshop.

Ed O’Brien said Radiohead became interested in the issue in part because of author Naomi Klein’s book No Logo which highlighted the production-to-retail practices of companies. Klein's book also ranks as one of my favorites.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that lead singer Thom Yorke lauded MTV for taking on such issues, given the fact that the network's hands aren't exactly clean.

Yorke said the band had linked with MTV to highlight such issues as child slavery, enforced servitude and sex trafficking because it was "about exploiting a situation while you have the chance."

"All power to MTV for taking this on because its obviously going to be difficult for them in terms of the advertisers," he said. "If you talk about slave labour, then the issue of cheap goods from the East is all about that.

With the [All I Need] video their lawyers had to beg to make sure there wasn't a single white [sneaker] with a logo on it because the implication would be a little too close. But the implication is still there," he concluded.

I spend a good portion of my working hours with the Not For Sale Campaign, fighting against slave labor in a way that my skill set allows (ecommerce, marketing, biz dev, that kind of thing). It is a logical tie-in to my other company, Fair Trade Sports, with our certified Fair Trade sports balls (read: adult workers paid a fair wage and ensured healthy working conditions).

If you are so inclined, we'd love to have your help with the Not For Sale Campaign. We've got lots of volunteer opportunities. You can make a direct, positive impact on this global problem...

Plenty Magazine recently featured our sports balls in a lineup of cool (and useful) green gear for this Spring on a New York morning TV show. Check out the article and the video.

Waylon Lewis is a funny guy. Quite funny, in fact, but also a poignant speaker on current events. Take a glimpse into life in Boulder, Colorado in this short elephant magazine video clip of Waylon. Be sure to check out the rest of their video series as well.



Props to Mathew Gerson at eConscious Market for supplying Waylon with the Fair Trade soccer ball to pitch from the stage.

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.

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.

I was speaking with students at the University of Washington last week about this topic and realized I had not yet done a blog post summary on it. So here you go...

As suppliers of Fair Trade soccer balls, we've signed up to a pioneering initiative where soccer ball stitching is organized into small work units in the villages of Sialkot, Pakistan - with dedicated units for women, who - in an Islamic society - could not work in the same room as men.

As part of Fair Trade requirements for sports balls (PDF), the working conditions in these units (ventilation, lighting and access to safe drinking water) are being improved each year.

The key component of Fair Trade criteria, however, is that the workers in these centers receive a substantially increased wage for all soccer balls ordered under Fair Trade conditions. These wages are calculated - if it were applied for all their work - to meet the basic needs of a family, allowing the children to go to school instead of having to work.

Furthermore, a basic health care program is provided for all those involved in the production of Fair Trade sports balls - a first for this type of employment. And in order to reduce the workers' dependency on the ball-export production (which can be seasonal), micro-credit loans are offered to improve the village economy and to provide alternative or additional income opportunities to the workers.

To finance these changes, a Fair Trade premium is also placed on the price of each unit. And as with all other products that carry the Fair Trade certification, compliance with these criteria is subject to constant independent monitoring. The Fair Trade certification does indeed guarantee a better deal for all producers.

In the case of Fair Trade soccer balls, the price of every ball includes a premium that we pay (but not pass on to you the consumer), which contributes to the health care and micro-credit programs described above, the improvement of working conditions, and above all ensures that whoever stitched your ball has received a fair wage.

We believe this gives an entirely new meaning to the term, "customer satisfaction"!

Gidpur is a small village outside of Sialkot, Pakistan. It is centered around a large banyan tree that provides welcome shade from the sweltering heat.

The village is very poor. The road is extremely rutted and the few buildings are single-story brick dwellings that house large families. Martin and James from FairDeal Trading (our sister company in the UK) met the Khan family, who had been joined just days before by a new member, a healthy boy.

The mother - Mushulcut - was sitting with her new baby. The baby was delivered at a good hospital in Sialkot, where Mushulcut stayed for 24 hours after giving birth. The hospital fees and all necessary medicines were paid entirely by our Fair Trade program, which is funded by your purchases of our certified Fair Trade sports balls.

"I am very thankful that the hospital was paid for," she said. "Without this, we would be in debt. My last baby was also delivered with the help of the Fair Trade (program), and she was a girl. Now we have a boy and we have called him Morcadus, which means The Holy."

Mushulcut's husband Selferaz is also keen to say how helpful the Fair Trade initiative has been to them. "We are a Fair Trade family," he said with a grin on his face.

Shymala has high hopes for her granddaughter Roopa, and for her future. Roopa is 14 years old and is in the 9th grade, along with her best friend Mahalakshmi.

Shymala and Roopa live in one of the rooms of New Ambadi Rubber Estate, where we source our eco-certified Fair Trade rubber for our sports balls. These rooms are small, but quite comfortable. They have electricity, an individual water supply, separate toilets, and a small space for keeping chickens and growing vegetables. In fact, there is a waiting list for this type of accommodation. Most workers have to rent houses or flats in nearby villages.

Shymala works in the latex factory of New Ambadi. She is a trade union leader, not just representing the workers of the plantation, but also rubber workers throughout the district. She is also a member of the joint body, which was started when FairDeal Trading (our sister company in the U.K.) began buying rubber under Fair Trade conditions. Our group (FDT in the U.K. and Fair Trade Sports in North America) is the only company in the world that pays a Fair Trade premium for latex, which is then processed into components for soccer balls and other sports balls in Pakistan.

The joint body meets regularly and keeps meeting minutes. It has decided to save the Fair Trade premiums into a fund, which will be used to pay for the children of the plantation workers to go to college. Even though education in India is free, in principle, only children who can afford to go to private schools have a chance of getting a decent job after their schooling. The joint body told us that we need to buy at least 90 tons of rubber in order for the fund to have enough money in it to start paying out stipends.

Shymala hopes that her granddaughter will be one of the first to benefit. She would like her to train as a nurse. The three -year course costs quite a bit, which she could never afford out of her salary.

The second benefit of our buying is that we paid for the registration of New Ambadi into the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) initiative for responsible forest management, helping to make rubber production more sustainable.

The positive effects of Fair Trade (and your participation) just seem to multiply...thank you!

Kadir Ensurre is a welder. He makes security grills and window fencing for people's homes.

He also repairs tools and metal furniture. He says he is always busy because there is such a demand for his type of work. His small workshop is on a busy road, so he attracts passing trade as well as having regular customers.

Kadir trained as a welder for two years until he was 18 years old. His mother, who stitched soccer balls for us, took out a substantial loan so that Kadir could start his own welding business. He pays rent on his shop every month, and the rest of the money was spent on numerous power tools, compressors and a welding plant.

He also makes a seperate monthly payment on his micro-credit loan from the program we fund, while still bringing home enough money so that his mother can retire from stitching soccer balls. And when the loan has been fully paid off, his income will rise considerably.

Kadir points out that without micro-credit it would be impossible for him to have opened his workshop. Banks would demand a guarantor or property to back a loan, things his family does not have. A bank loan would also accrue large interest charges that would make paying off such a loan very difficult.

Kadir is looking forward to expanding his business when the loan is paid off. "I enjoy my job and want my business to grow," he said. Micro-credit loans provide real help, as well as personal and professional growth. We are honored to be part of Kadir's life!

Mohammand Riaz is content. His four children are healthy and well. The winter wheat, which he is cultivating on his two hectares, is looking good. Last season, his main crop of rice yielded an exceptional five tons, which he could sell for a profit to the rice mill.

Mr. Riaz is 45 years of age, lives in Sialkot Pakistan, and works at our partner’s certified Fair Trade sports ball production facility. Two thirds of all soccer balls produced worldwide are manufactured in his home town.

It takes 690 stitches to turn 32 pentagonal and hexagonal panels of synthetic leather into a soccer ball. Depending on the quality of the ball an experienced stitcher can stitch three to five balls per day. The most tricky bit is the final seam, which has to be done blind - through adjacent seams - and without puncturing the eco-certified latex air bladder.

Mr. Riaz credits his good harvest to Fair Trade…several years ago his employer, Talon Sports, became the first Fair Trade supplier of soccer balls in the world. The initial run of sports balls were sold to a cooperative in Italy.

Whenever Mr. Riaz stitches a ball which has been ordered by Fair Trade Sports, he is guaranteed a wage which is about 50% higher than what is usually paid in the industry.

Another part of the Fair Trade premium we pay (but don’t pass on to you the consumer) goes towards financing a health care program for all workers involved in the sports ball production at our facility - because Fair Trade orders are still the exception to the extent that getting a Fair Trade ball to stitch is a bit like winning the lottery. The health care plan, on the other hand, continuously benefits all employees and is an industry-first for workers like Mr. Riaz.

On top of this, the Talon Fair Trade Welfare Society provides small loans to workers who want to develop a second source of income, since the stitching of sports balls is highly seasonal - the years of World Cup Soccer are good - the years in between can be lean.

Mr. Riaz applied for a loan to purchase an irrigation pump for his farm; two-thirds of the loan is already repaid - and is now micro-credit loans for some of his colleagues.

The positive cycle created by the Fair Trade movement (and supported by you) continues…