Fair trade – no sweat

By Ed Merrison
POOR Harry Kewell came out of the World Cup with gout and a broken heart, while Italy robbed the Socceroos and went home with winners’ medals. Where is the justice in that?
Fortunately, a Ferntree Gully company is working hard to put fairness back into the business of sport by producing sweatshop free soccer balls.
ESP Pty Ltd’s Etiko balls are Fairtrade certified and stamped with the International Labour Organisation accolade ‘No Child Labour’ which guarantees there is no child labour involved in their production and ensures developing world workers are paid a fair wage.
The company says the balls are made in a safe, externally monitored working environment in Pakistan and that the balls are made by adult stitchers who receive medical entitlements and a wage designed to provide their families with the necessities they require.
ESP owner Nick Savaidis said stitchers worked in comfortable units that were continually monitored and gradually being improved.
“These village units allow more women to work as they do not have to leave their villages for larger townships, something that has discouraged many women from working in the past,” he said.
According to Mr Savaidis, a further advantage of the system is a locally managed micro-credit scheme which helps reduce workers’ financial dependency on their stitching income by encouraging them to develop their own business.
Mr Savaidis, who visited Pakistan last year, said the scheme allowed workers to borrow up to US$1200.
He cited as examples a widow loaned $73 for two water buffalo to produce milk for sale, and a man who used $800 to build a thriving business from a single billiard room.
In addition, $3 from every Etiko ball bought online goes towards the funding of Happy Football Cambodia, a soccer campus for Khmer children.
For Mr Savaidis, the concept of Fairtrade makes sense on many levels, with consumers able to purchase Etiko balls without paying over the odds and safe in the knowledge the ball conforms to international match ball standards.
“It’s great to be a professional business and put back into the community and at the same time put back into the local community,” Mr Savaidis said.
ESP – the acronym stands for “ethically sound products” – does not limit itself to soccer balls.
The Etiko brand name is about to be applied to basketballs, rugby balls and AFL balls, while the Ferntree Gully outlet also stocks anti-sweatshop sports and casual wear and thongs designed by, and returning proceeds to, Aceh tsunami survivors.
And former Upwey High School teacher Mr Savaidis is keen to drum up local and further reaching support for his range of causes.
“We hope some of the schools in the Hills who teach their kids social justice might consider using the balls as part of their school programs.
“I read somewhere the average Australian spends a million dollars in their lifetime and the way you spend that money can influence a lot of people,” he said.