We launched Fair Trade soccer balls (along with footballs and basketballs) at Whole Foods yesterday.

On a gorgeous Fall day in Seattle, Whole Foods team members worked with Coach Shelley Patterson of the WNBA Seattle Storm and Fair Trade Sports to corral a truckload of rambunctious elementary students into healthy and educational games, supporting the 2007 Governor’s Health Bowl.

We used a modified version of this Oxfam soccer game (PDF) to get the students talking and thinking about the word “fair” in relation to a tangible item they can experience, like a soccer ball. The parents asked lots of questions about the Fair Trade and eco-friendly aspects of the soccer balls. My hope is that we spurred more dinner table conversation with these families last night about what is fair versus unfair when they think about the producers of the products we use every day.


Pictured here is Jenna Pool and Michele DeAnda from Whole Foods (foreground) awarding Fair Trade soccer balls as prizes to the students who correctly answered questions posed by Coach Patterson (background). She had some tough questions!

Be sure to look for the display of Fair Trade footballs, basketballs, and soccer balls next time you are in your area’s Whole Foods Market. Should that specific store not have any, hand the manager one of our Ambassador cards with a request to begin stocking the sports balls this Fall!

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The good folks at Equal Exchange have just updated their fundraising program to include a new incentive…an EE-branded Fair Trade soccer ball!

The largest worker-owned coffee roaster in the country, Equal Exchange offers tours to fundraising groups for coffee and chocolate tasting. In some areas (such as Portland, OR), they will also send a crew out to your school assembly to help launch the new program.

Contact them if you are interested, and be sure to tell Kelsie we said hello!

And if you need a Fair Trade soccer ball (or any of our other sports) branded with your organization’s colors and logos (minimum order 250 balls), just let us know! If you need less than 250 sports balls, just head over to our Gear Shop to see our volume pricing on all orders of 10+ balls.

Our friends at Fair Indigo just released their Autumn catalog.

They have a recycled, fair trade fleece jacket made from 50% recycled soda bottles by a fair trade cooperative in Costa Rica. How cool is that?!

They are also carrying our children’s Fair Trade soccer balls. Grab one to go with your Fair Indigo fleece jacket this Fall!

The mini-balls are here! These are an often-requested item from our customers (and my four year old) and they turned out wonderfully.

    

They are perfect for fun play at home or the office and a great Fair Trade gift for that sports enthusiast who is so difficult to buy for. Both the mini-soccer ball and the mini-rugby ball are healthy gifts that encourage movement whether you are at home or the office. Something important for all of us!

 

Fair Trade footballs are here!

This is another “World’s First” product…the first-ever certified Fair Trade football made with eco-certified materials.

With soft handling and great performance, this Fair Trade eco-football is destined to become a backyard favorite this Fall.

As I mentioned before, I spend a good portion of my working hours helping a US-based team of abolitionists led by my friend David Batstone.

One of the first items we created to spread the message that children should be free to play, rather than forced to work, was soccer balls that are certified to be stitched by adults - not children - in healthy working conditions. Get your own Free to Play soccer ball (and pick up one of our new Edun shirts while you are on the site)!

A few Sundays ago, a group of abolitionists in DC demonstrated a new form of political statement and advocacy, as a local group of concerned citizens and activists took to the soccer pitch in front of the Mall.

The DC Fight Trafficking and Modern Slavery Meet Up group took on the Washington Soccer Society in a “Free to Play” soccer match. The game was to promote a new fair trade soccer ball, which is guaranteed free from slavery, and promote the fight to combat modern slavery and human trafficking. Read more about the event on their blog and get your own certified Fair Trade soccer ball here.

The FLO writes a Producer Profile for each new organization that they certify to be Fair Trade. This is the one for Talon, our manufacturer in Pakistan.

It was written in June 2006, the summer before we launched Fair Trade Sports. The company noted in the profile called FairDeal Trading is my friend, business partner, and personal “professor”, Dr. Martin Kunz in London.

Although I don’t agree with everything in the FLO document - child labor has definitely NOT been “virtually eliminated” from this industry - it’s still a good document overall on the positive programs happening at Talon, including their medical program - a first in the sporting goods industry in Pakistan.
You can learn more about the benefits of purchasing Fair Trade soccer balls on Talon’s website.

In celebration of Earth Day (April 22), I’m pleased to announce all Fair Trade Sports balls are now being equipped with certified latex by the Forest Stewardship Council.

FSC certification is the same eco-label you see on other forest products at Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Kinko’s. Products bearing the FSC logo guarantee that the product (in our case, latex) came from a certified well-managed forest.

As we discussed earlier, the air bladders inside each of our sports balls - such as our fairly traded rugby ball - are made of latex. This latex now comes from our rubber tree forest in India which has been certified both FSC and Fair Trade.

I hope you are able to enjoy Earth Day outside with family and friends!

Susan and I have been fans of Global Exchange for quite awhile. We’re thrilled to have GX on board as one of our wholesale accounts.

Should your team or store be interested in ordering Fair Trade soccer balls and more in bulk quantities, please refer to our volume discount price guide.

As we mentioned earlier, Cabrini College in PA grabbed the honor of “first ever” for a campus wallyball tourney recently. Here are the photos from the CRS “Play Fair Trade Fair” event.

I’m digging the use of our brand stickers as an apparel accessory.

To quote from Jessica Hagerty’s article:

“The volleyballs we will be using were made from people in another country and we can feel confident that they earned fair wages,” Coordinator of Student-Athlete Wellness Jackie Neary said.

Fair Trade is an association of fair trade wholesalers, retailers and producers whose members are committed to providing fair wages and good employment opportunities to economically disadvantaged artisans and farmers worldwide.

Sports balls are one of Fair Trade’s many products. Other products include chocolate, coffee, sugar, cotton products, honey and flowers.

The event is supported by the athletic department’s director of athletics and recreation Leslie Danehy, assistant director of recreation Orlin Jespersen, administrative coordinator Amanda Eckenroad and Neary.

“The athletic and recreation departments are very proud to be participating in this event because it is a very important issue that people should be aware of,” Neary said.

A soccer tournament using Fair Trade soccer balls is another event that the departments wish to pursue.

Does your high school or college campus have a Fair Trade initiative? Let’s see how many more Fair Trade tourneys we can get going with intramural systems and club sports teams!

More Cabrini photos here.