With these balls we all make a contribution. The independant FAIRTRADE mark ensures that our sports balls are always manufactured under adequate working conditions (including social benefits, medical care and without illegal child labour), and guarantees that the needleworkers receive fair compensation for their work.

Who actually makes our footballs? Pakistan is the world’s top football producer. In the so-called “Stitching Centres”, thousands of stitchers work for all the brands that are involved in the football market. In an industry that used to be infamous for low wages and unfair working conditions, we set out to work with producers who commit to upholding our standards of social welfare and provide their employees with good working conditions and completely reject child labour and who submit to scrutiny by IMAC, the Independent Monitoring Association for Child Labour. Where applicable to ensure compliance with our standards, we demand that stitching centres conduct self-audits, which we monitor regularly.

As a result, we will offer two FAIRTRADE balls in our 2010 collection. These balls are our way of showing support to the organisation that has done the most to improve conditions for workers in plants around the world. With your enlightened purchase, you can bear witness to your support for this organisation. Everyone can have an impact through their purchasing decisions.

Please find more information under www.transfair.org