where's a place to buy ethical running shoes

[drhess]

Are there any links of places to buy running shoes that aren't made by (near) slave labor?

I see places selling shirts and hemp items (blech) of all kinds, but can not find one with running shoes. Any?

[WIGGUM]

I'm pretty sure that New Balance are manufactured in Bangor, Maine. At least they used to be.

[David Plankton]

dunno about who makes them, but check out a brand called macbeth - they're vegan

[WIGGUM]

According to this site http://www.newbalance.com/cms-service/stream/pdf/?pdf_id=1942084, I was close.

[Blueapple]

New Balance also has an Endorsed by No One (http://www.newbalance.com/loc/en/aboutus/misc/philosophy.html?bbp.e=s&g11n.enc=ISO-8859-1&bbp.v=topic4&bbp.11.sel=topic4&bbp.i=0&bbp.s=11) philosophy.

Instead of paying celebrities to tell you how great our products are, we invest in research, design, and domestic manufacturing and let our products speak for themselves.

[Satchmo]

I'm kind of partial to Saucony shoes, the company headquarters are in Peabody, MA 01960 according to their homepage at www.saucony.com I believe they manufacture there shoes there as well. I'm certainly open to correction if I'm mistaken about that, though.

Satch

[CurtC]

I'm wary of straying into GD territory here, but are any imported products made by workers who are forced to work there? I'm aware that most of these don't pay enough to live large, but are the workers forced, with threat of physical harm, to work there?

[elmwood]

There's the Hersey Custom Show Company (http://www.herseycustomshoe.com/), which makes sneakers by hand in the United States.

[elmwood]

Show-shoe. Preview!

[Philster]

What would happen if big shoe companies stopped paying low wages to all those workers in far away destitute places? Would they go find better work somewhere or be closer to starving to death?


Nike chairman: People of Guzambu, I am pleased to announce that Nike will no longer be accused of underpaying Gazambuans.

Peasants: YAY!

Nike: We are closing our factories this month

Peasants: YAY! No more low wages!

[MsRobyn]

Another vote for New Balance. Their shoes are better than anything I've ever gotten from Nike, and at a fraction of the price. They also contribute a portion of their money from women's shoes to breast cancer research.

Robin

[Kaio]

Originally posted by Satchmo
I'm kind of partial to Saucony shoes, the company headquarters are in Peabody, MA 01960 according to their homepage at www.saucony.com I believe they manufacture there shoes there as well. I'm certainly open to correction if I'm mistaken about that, though.

Satch

Actually I'd love it if someone could find the straight dope on this... Pangea sells Sauconys and they specifically state that they vet all their suppliers for ethical manufacture, including making sure they're sweat-free. However, when I checked my now-dead Sauconys at home (dead but not that old -- 6 months -- I run a lot) the tag on the tongue says "Made in China." bwah?

I think Brooks shoes are American-made, but again, I can't seem to find anything which says for sure.

[bibliophage]

What constitutes an "ethical" manufacturer is a matter of opinion. I'll move this thread to IMHO because the OP is obviously looking for suggestions, not a debate about what constitutes ethical manufacturing.

Debates about what is or is not ethical manufacturing practice should go in another thread in Great Debates if anyone cares to start one.

bibliophage
moderator GQ

[gex gex]

originally posted by PhilsterWhat would happen if big shoe companies stopped paying low wages to all those workers in far away destitute places? Would they go find better work somewhere or be closer to starving to death?


Nike chairman: People of Guzambu, I am pleased to announce that Nike will no longer be accused of underpaying Gazambuans.

Peasants: YAY!

Nike: We are closing our factories this month

Peasants: YAY! No more low wages!
Y'know, they could just pay them... gasp... proper wages!

It's a terribly revolutionary concept, I know, but well, worker's have only been fighting for it for, oh... a couple of hundred years.

[Really Not All That Bright]

So Nike starts paying its Indonesian workers what they'd make in the US. All of a sudden, it costs more to make shoes in Indonesia than it does here...

So you could say "they could just raise wages to a point still below where costs would exceed US manufacture"...

So then how the heck is Vince Carter supposed to get eelskin seats in his Hummer? I mean if Nike starts paying its workers that much, obviously endorsers have to suffer...

Oh wait, right, they'll just raise shoe prices. They will then lose more and more sales to the lower (read: reasonably) priced brands, and start closing southeast Asian plants anyway.

Now, if Reebok and Adidas do the same thing, sponsorship for sports across the United States and Canada goes downhill, and North American professional sports as we know them collapse. (the best thing that could happen to them, if you ask me). On the other hand, Ferrari pays Michael Schumacher more than anyone gets paid to flog high-tops, so maybe we should stop buying Ferraris too ;-)

[Dreaming of Maria Callas]

Aren't many "Made in US" clothing products actually made in Saipan, which is somehow exempt from most US laws on minimum wage and worker safety?

UnuMondo

[wmulax93]

Originally posted by Kaio
Actually I'd love it if someone could find the straight dope on this... Pangea sells Sauconys and they specifically state that they vet all their suppliers for ethical manufacture, including making sure they're sweat-free. However, when I checked my now-dead Sauconys at home (dead but not that old -- 6 months -- I run a lot) the tag on the tongue says "Made in China." bwah?

I think Brooks shoes are American-made, but again, I can't seem to find anything which says for sure.

Umm, "Made in China" does not always equal sweat-shops, you know. There are ethical companies over there.

[Kaio]

Originally posted by wmulax93
Umm, "Made in China" does not always equal sweat-shops, you know. There are ethical companies over there.

Well, sure, but without some sort of independent verification, there's no way for me to tell if this particular "Made in China" item was made by an ethical Chinese company or a sweatshop just from the tag. Hence my request for some straight dope on the question.

[Melanie]

When you said ethical running shoes, I assumed you were looking for a link to non-leather shoes.

http://www.veganessentials.com/vegandotcom/

Not sure where they source them though.

[t-bonham@scc.net]

Originally posted by CurtC
I'm wary of straying into GD territory here, but are any imported products made by workers who are forced to work there? I'm aware that most of these don't pay enough to live large, but are the workers forced, with threat of physical harm, to work there? Much of what is labeled "Made in China" is made by prison labor. And I'd expect that trying to leave a Chinese prison would result in "threat of personal harm".

[mhendo]

Originally posted by WIGGUM
I'm pretty sure that New Balance are manufactured in Bangor, Maine. At least they used to be. Well, as the owner of two pairs of New Balance shoes, i just went and had a look at the labels. Both said "Made in China."

According to this 1999 Jobs With Justice site (http://www.jwj.org/updates/1999/04-99.htm), Nashville, TN - As part of a national campaign against New Balance, the Nashville JwJ organized a protest at a local Footlocker store. New Balance promotes an image of itself as “committed to US manufacturing,” but it’s imports from China increased over 37% in 1998, and they increased the number of low-wage, no-benefit temp workers at its distribution center almost tenfold. The MA New Balance workers voted to be represented by UNITE last spring and are now fighting for a fair first contract. If you want to know which New Balance shoes are made in the United States, go here (http://www.nbwebexpress.com/madeinusa_nb.htm).

[China Guy]

Originally posted by t-bonham@scc.net
Much of what is labeled "Made in China" is made by prison labor. And I'd expect that trying to leave a Chinese prison would result in "threat of personal harm". Gotta recent cite for this? Hmm, the US has prison labor, and having grown up in a maximum security prison town, a con trying to "leave" prison also has the "threat of personal harm."

Certainly there is prison labor in China. But to call it "much"? I know it's an easy target, but seriously just how much do you think is much? 0.1%, 5%, 10%, 25%?

Even if you're a cynical commie basher, it makes sense to concede that the Chinese aren't stupid and they figured out that the negative publicity of having prisoners make export goods was far greater than any possible benefit.

[Typo Negative]

Originally posted by Kaio
Well, sure, but without some sort of independent verification, there's no way for me to tell if this particular "Made in China" item was made by an ethical Chinese company or a sweatshop just from the tag. The same can be said about some products made in Los Angeles and New York.

[kambuckta]

Ethical shoes? How 'ethical' do you wanna get?

There's a shoe-shop in inner-suburban Melbourne called Vegan Shoes......now that's pretty darned 'ethical' in MHO. Mind you, all of their shoes are vinyl and they ARE exorbitantly priced.

Ahhhh...but on a decent read of the thread, I see that Melanie has beaten me to it!!

Bugger. :D

[Dreaming of Maria Callas]

When I was in the Navy some years ago, all of the clothing we were issued was Made in the USA. (The Army might be different, since I hear those new black berets are made in China). New Balance will have to keep producing at least some of its shoes in the US to keep that lucrative contract with the military.

Of course, even Made in USA could mean sweatshop produced in Saipan.

UnuMondo

[Kaio]

Originally posted by spooje
The same can be said about some products made in Los Angeles and New York.

Uhm, cite? I would think that OSHA regs would prevent companies in NY and LA from doing things like forcing workers to handle caustic chemicals and glues without safety equipment.

[Tony Montana]

Ethical vegan running shoes.

Whatever makes you feel good I guess.

Runner 1: "Damn those are ugly! And why are you limping?"

Runner 2: "Well they're $250.00 ethically made vegan shoes, and their slighly uncomfortable" :limps off:

[justwannano]

If the product is made in the USA and the workers are paid minimum wage isn't that still a sweat shop?
Minimum wage is not a living wage.
I suppose it depends on your personal ideas on what ethical is.
IMHO if you are working 40 hours a week on any job you ought to be making more than minimum wage.Overtime rates be damned. Overtime just keeps people away from their families.There are enough problems with kids not having parental supervision.