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!