Hey Andrew... I would love to be enlightened on this subject. I feel like I don't have the right sources I have been reading through the past couple years, as you said there has been numerous in depth analysis of it in an academic environment. Could you lead me to any that are available to the public?

I remember when Nike put a skate shoe ad in Thrasher, around 1996-97 or so. There was lots of hand-wringing over it. AFAIK neither Nike nor skateboarding was worse for wear. (I heard the shoes were not bad, actually).

The way I see it, if you're innovative and doing your own thing -- you're busy rolling your culture as you go along and this doesn't intrude on you.

If you're a follower who gets off on being part of an elite group of fake-non-conformists -- then it's time to find a new bandwagon to jump on.

rs

that ad looks like those chicks that work for gwen stefani

I love Nike. I wish I could lace my wheels to look like giant swoosh's

Man, just look at all those people running out to pick up some vintage track bikes and some matching nikes.

I spent part of my weekend thinking of better causes for fixed gear riders to get behind, other than someone using a fixed gear in an ad.

1.) Pollution caused by farting
2.) Creating a hypercolors shirt memorial day
3.) The rights of bacteria that are being killed by anti-bacterial soaps
4.) Making "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" change from yellow to red so that people know that it's definitely not butter
5.) Making dogs wear hats

Go crazy kids!

The only worthwhile arguement in this entire threat is the part about being anti-sweatshops. But thats not limited to Nike. Sweatshops also produce your Adidas, Pumas, Converse (owned by Nike) and probably Vans. I'm not even going into all the clothing you're wearing made in sweatshops.

Yet you're all whining about them posting a billboard with some bikes on it.
Get over your ****ing selves.

As for the Minor Threat/Nike thing. Why is it so hard for some people to get in their heads that whatever people were in charge of that skate tour (going to DC) grew up with Minor Threat, then mimiced an iconic photo from a hugely influential DC bands album cover on a flier for that tour (not on a shoe advertisement), and they did it out of love/admiration for the band itself? You know that Minor Threat was big into skateboarding too, and have been photographed wearing Nikes, even though thats all beside the point. Should NIKE SB have asked Dischord first? Probably. Was it blown out of proportion by some people who felt it was stealing something from their little scene/culture/etc? ...Do I need to answer that?

damn I'm sick of political science majors blabbing some crap they read on a blog somewhere jees man get a life

I think we all forgot the most important aspect of biking:

It brings us together so we can further segregate ourselves based on political stances and who owns the most expensive crap.

Anyway you look at that sweatshop issue, it's just a justification for you to keep living your life the way you wanna live it. So get after it dude. And china does have education and schools. Don't think america is it for education. And where are these adults always? Like there's never adults in these places it's always "little kids in sweatshops"

I did like the ad. They look like really close friends having a good time with eachother.

I've never owned a nike product in my entire life, but that doesn't mean there's no blood on my hands.

Man, how much more right could I have been? So many
strawmen, so little substance!

I'm all about this one, and they could do up in lots of other fancy colors!

omg..it would totally end up like green ketchup and that grossness was totally nauseating cuz it looked like you were eating your french fries with paint...hehe but I still bought it several times..

I'm going to take the bait and dive back into this one, as it's a viewpoint that really annoys me, and seems to be way too common.

As mentioned by a few others in response to your post, sweatshop labour is not better than nothing. Sweatshops are the creation of 1st world pressure on 3rd world countries. Third world countries get into heavy debt to the IMF, World Bank and other similar organisations. This happens in times of famine, drought, or often after a first-world instigated coup or "revolution" that sees hundreds of thousands of people dead and the country in a bloody shambles.
International corporations put pressure on heavily in-debt governments to create free-trade zones, giving the companies the ability to run their manufacturing arms without needing to pay tax, without needing to follow humanitarian laws or provide basic rights for those who work for them. Combine this with the mechanisation of many previously farming-based economies, as well as cash-crop farming enforced by rich landlords, and numerous otehr issues, and you're left with a lower class who are even poorer than they used to be.
Not only that, but they can no longer farm the food they eat as they are threatened with eviction from their lands if they aren't growing the crops their landlords (and in turn, multinationals) are demanding. Obviously this leads to one majorly ****ed up situation for these poor people.

More often than not, as you have mentioned, they have no other option but to work for minimal wages, hundreds of miles away from their families, with no medical support, disgusting conditions, no union support, women are often sexually abused by bosses, they have no choice in where they live, being forced to live in tiny dormitory rooms that their employers rent out to them for prices often exceeding 3/4 of their total pay, etc. The conditions are horrendous.

The demand for cheap labour in these zones (a demand created by the massive number of companies who continue to out-source to them for labour) also leads to human trafficking on a major scale. You may have seen the current "Stop The Trafik" campaign that's being run. Thousands of children are sold into slavery every year, or stolen from their families to work in places like sweatshops (not to mention child prostitution, child soldiers, camel jockeys and way too many other disgusting trades). The existance of sweatshops is one of the many things that keeps the trade in human lives active and alive. It's the biggest growing illegal trade in the world behind arms and drugs.

I don't know about you, but I don't feel so good about passing it off as "it's better than nothing". We made this problem. These companies are doing nothing to solve it, only perpetuate it. The least we can do is make some semblance of an effort to withdraw our support from them and at least spread some proper information about what exactly is going on in countries that aren't our own. They may seem far away, but people are dying for your shoes.

Very well put Sekt. Not overly complicated, which allow your writing to make a great point. However, as someone who is uneducated in this, I have a question:

What happens if these companies are shut down? If the workers are given the option to not work for these companies, what will happen to them? And how do I know that it will be a just thing? And if working in these conditions is not better than nothing, what does nothing encompass?

The point is not to shut the sweatshops down, but to create solutions that will fix the problem rather than create further problems.

So big companies who have the buying and bargaining power need to start demanding that decent minimum wages are set, and that the workers are being paid at or above that wage. They need to ensure that unions are allowed to function, and that basic workers rights are acknowledged. Sweatshops are allowed to prosper because they are the cheap and easy way out. If companies stop taking that easy way out and instead start demanding proper conditions, then it will begin to solve the problems. They also need to stop pressuring governments into creating these free-trade zones for their own benefit with no thought of the human cost.

It's a massive and very complex problem, and for consumers there's not a great deal that can be done to directly help solve it. One of the best actions you can take is to stop supporting the companies who use sweatshop labour (which can be difficult, I know I'm not 100% guilt free by any measure). You can also let others know about it and try to increase the awareness. It's very easy to ignore it all because we don't have to experience the fallout from it.

If you're interested in the subject matter and want to learn more, pick up a copy of Naomi Klein's 'No Logo' book. Recommending it has become a bit of a cliché, but that's mainly because it's a great book that is widely available. It can be a little heavy at times but she's a good writer and covers a lot of good points.

I think I understand. By not buying the products, the big companies receiving the products made in the sweatshops will understand that they need to demand fair working conditions, or they will get no business from consumers if enough boycott the products. So basically creating fair working conditions for the affected workers through "ransom". Interesting.

I will have to pick up this book soon. I would love to read more about this.

Yeah, it's pretty much boycotting. It's not designed to directly impact sales, because it's really not going to do much. It does mean you're not participating in the practice though, and it also means you're giving your buying dollar to the companies who are doing the right thing.

but really, who doesn't use sweatshop labor? id love to see a list of major clothing (or any commodity) manufacturers and their relative labor practices.

just going on a hunch that one company is bad and another is somehow better might not accomplish anything. and the "made in xxxx" label isnt much help either. everything is from a third world country, and that in and of itself wont tell you how well the workers were treated.

unless there are clear offenders and clear alternatives, how can you effectively boycott?

The best thing is to get on the net and do some research. Avoid the obvious ones and keep an eye out for advertised sweatshop-free stuff (like No Sweat Stuff, No Sweat Shop label clothing, etc).

Obviously it's not as easy as just buying anything, but just making a small effort can be enough. Like I said before, it's not really about staging an effective boycott, but rather about avoiding participation in the entire thing where possible.

Everyone needs to approach it in their own way and do their bit in a way that works for them. I can't tell you how to fit your life to it or what you can buy that's 'safe', you need to work that out for yourself.

Personally I wear shoes that are likely made in a sweatshop because I don't like the lack of padding in Sweat Free Sneakers and I haven't found an alternative. I run a record label and we ensure that all the merch we make for the label is sweatshop free and made in Australia. We also print it by hand. We encourage our bands to do the same. We also make it clear that our stuff is sweat-free, which helps make people aware that other stuff they buy may not be. I mostly buy band t-shirts and hoodies, and I always give preference to stuff that's been printed on sweatshop free garments.

I'm not doing as much as other people are, but I do what I can where I can and try and be as aware as possible about it when I'm making purchases.

People whining about sweat shops...LOL
Id kill to be making that kinda cash

No one's whining.

go read the thread.

I have, no one's whining.

Well maybe in Tasmania things are different.
Go play with your sister.