EOTO Feedback, Part 4

Sarah’s Each One Teach One Project about Nike’s lack of corporate responsibility concerning unfair labor practices in their overseas suppliers’ warehouses is an interesting read. Although I am familiar with the protests against Nike’s labor and human rights standards, I hadn’t heard of the specific incident that Sarah cites about the guy trying to get “Sweatshop” stiched into his Nikes. I actually had an iD request denied by Nike when I bought a pair of Nike Shox had wanted “McGregor” (my last name) sewed in as the iD. Apparently it got denied because Nike views the McGregor clothing company as a competitor and will not allow any moniker deemed to be in competition with them to be sewn on their shoes. It’s was funny to me at the time because McGregor clothing is a bottom-of-the-barrel brand, and I can’t remember the last time I saw it stocked in a store. In fact, a quick search turned up no homepage for the company at all. It seems to me that like many large corporations, Nike is concerned about their image when it comes in the form of their competition. They take every precaution to prevent someone from thinking their precious shoes are in any way related to a discount brand, but when it comes to topic of actual harm the company is causing people (through their actions or inactions) they weren’t doing much.

I was not familiar with the Nike Reponsibility Campaign (I’ve since switched to New Balances), but I am glad to learn that the company is taking a more active approach to disclosing their suppliers and only working with those that don’t practice human rights violations. If Nike did more promotion of this campaign, I think they would have a better image among the socially-conscious consumers. A quick visit to their website taught me that Nike was voted one of the top 100 “Best Corporate Citizens of 2005” by Business Ethics Magazine.