Global Exchange, the group that sparked groundbreaking global anti-sweatshop campaigns against Nike and GAP, can finally answer the question: what to buy instead? On Saturday May 1, No Sweat Apparel, the Fair Trade community's favorite fashion brand, kicked off sales of the world's first sweatshop-free sneakers. On May 4 Global Exchange starts selling the sneakers in Portland and online at store.globalexchange.org. That same day No Sweat Apparel's founder and CEO will challenge Nike's Phil Knight to offer consumers the same no-sweat guarantee.

A press conference announcing the challenge to Nike and unveiling the No Sweat Sneakers will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 4 at the Global Exchange Fair Trade store at 3508 Hawthorne Blvd. in Portland. At 1:00 p.m. No Sweat's Founder and CEO Adam Neiman will arrive at Nike's Beaverton campus to issue a Fair Trade challenge to Mr. Knight.

Each new box of No Sweat Sneakers offers an unprecedented bonus for those who care about stopping sweatshops: a detailed invoice explaining exactly what benefits and wages are provided to the union workers who make the shoes. "If a little company like No Sweat can do this and make a good profit, there's no reason why Nike and Reebok can't do the same," said Neiman. "We hope every sneaker company in the world will imitate this innovation. In fact, we dare them to."

No Sweat Sneakers come in a classic design made popular by PF Fliers and the now Nike-owned Converse All Stars—that is, black canvas with white ribbing. The sneakers will soon be available in cherry red as well. No Sweat Sneakers are competitively priced at $35 a pair.

The sneakers are selling well online at NoSweatApparel.com and Sharon Lassen, manager of Global Exchange's Portland store, expects knock-out sales once they are made available in the real world of brick and mortar retail. "We are very excited to be part of this ground breaking Fair Trade effort," said Lassen. "No Sweat Sneakers will, more than any other product out there, bring Fair Trade into the consumer limelight and show that fashion forward products can get sold, at a competitive price, without the human rights abuses inherent in sweatshop labor."

The official roll out of the No Sweat Sneakers is on May 1, International Workers Day. No Sweat Sneakers are made at a union shop in Jakarta, Indonesia where workers make 30 percent more than the local minimum wage, as well as receive 100 percent health care coverage, 80 percent family health care coverage, a pension, and a 30 liter a month rice allowance.

This is a win-win-win situation. Consumers concerned about where their money goes can finally purchase union made sneakers; people who make the sneakers get a better-than-living wage. Finally, due to the burgeoning Fair Trade market—valued at a quarter of a billion dollars by an International Federation for Alternative Trade report published by Co-op America in 2003—No Sweat Sneakers make a profit. No Sweat Sneakers are bound to give Nike owned Converse All Stars a good run for their money! What more could anyone ask for?

Global Exchange is an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, political and environmental justice.

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