In a story titled Shoes with soul: How, where are they made? written by a member of The Bee’s Teens in the Newsroom Program high schooler Zachary Senn grades some shoe companies by their social and environmental responsibilities. Not surprisingly Nike and Vans made the list.
Here’s what Master Senn had to say about Vans:
Owned by VF Corporation, Vans shoes contracts with factories that use sweatshop-style labor but show signs of improvement. A study done by corporate responsibility group As You Sow said that VF’s transparency is bad, but it is working toward bettering the lives of its factory workers. Social Grade: C.
Although it still uses dangerous chemicals in the manufacturing of its shoes, Vans is starting to move in the direction of becoming an eco-friendly company, by participating in events with the organization Beach Clean Up, as well as hosting e-waste disposal. Environmental Grade: C.
Nike did even worse, of course:
Nike, the world’s largest sporting-goods maker, has had a long and troubled history of sweatshop conditions and employee abuse at factories that make its products. . . . There are several third-party reports that corporal punishment is used in some factories that make Nike products and that in the primarily female work force, workers who become pregnant are fired. . . Social Grade: F.
Nike does, however, have several environmental programs, which include the use of organic cotton and recycling used rubber. Environmental Grade: B.
Nice to know that even the high schoolers know what’s up when it comes to footwear.
[Link: The Modesto Bee]
