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…