Product Description:
With soft handling and great performance, this Fair Trade football is an excellent training football! All-weather, high-grip surface means year-round outdoor play. And Fair Trade certified means the adult workers who produced this ball received a fair wage - at no extra cost to you! Eco-certified and certified Fair Trade. Union-made and vegan. Official size and weight.
There are a lot of connections between the growing union-made movement and the Fair Trade movement as they both seek to better the lives of workers. Where those two movements connect with Fair Trade Sports` manufacturer in Pakistan.
A significant milestone for Fair Trade is that the producers of a product should earn enough in order to provide for themselves and their families. If adults can pay for shelter, food, clothing, medical needs, emergencies, and expenses for education, then children no longer have to contribute to family income. Fair Trade Sports sell only balls that have passed the standards of the Fairtrade Labeling Organization (FLO).
The payments made for these balls includes a 20% premium, which is used for improving the lives of the workers, their families and their communities. Together, workers and management form a "Talon Workers Welfare Society" and decide how to disperse the Fair Trade Sports half of the 20% premium to benefit the group (the other half goes directly to the workers themselves). Programs include community clinics and healthcare insurance - a first in this industry - as well as micro-credit loans and more.
For balls ordered under Fair Trade conditions, stitchers receive wages which are approximately 50% higher than before. The piece rates have been calculated in such a way that two stitchers can earn 6,000 Pakistani rupees, enough to provide for an average family. Fair Trade Sports` balls come direct from their manufacturer, Talon Sports in Pakistan, who has agreed to meet the requirements of the FLO and to cooperate fully with their monitoring teams.
Fair Trade calculations estimate that a family should have 6,000 rupees per month to cover all basic needs and have some "money on the side." Fair stitching wages are calculated to provide - if Fair Trade orders are there all the time - individual incomes of more than 3,000 rupees per month. Two earners are needed per family to reach the Fair Trade minimum. It is not enough to simply bar children from working; the fair living wage ensures that the children have enough family support to succeed at school.
Help Fair Trade Sports continue to support its efforts to fight against extreme poverty!
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