Activists: New Balance uses Chinese sweatshop - Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (2024)

FAQs

Do New Balance use sweatshops? ›

Labour conditions

The brand's social auditing program covering its entire final production stage is accredited by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which ensures a good level of working conditions in that part of the supply chain. The brand received a score of 41-50% in the 2022 Fashion Transparency Index.

New Balance considers forced labor and child labor violations zero-tolerance issues, which require immediate and thorough remediation to start or continue doing business with the Company.

Conditions in Sweatshops. Sweatshops violate women's human rights throughout the world. Common abuses include low wages that fail to meet basic costs of living, substandard and unsafe working and living conditions, long hours of overtime for which employees are not compensated, and sexual harassment.

This edition of "Better Beauty" explores the fashion industry's history of labor abuses. A new law could shift the U.S. into resolution.

The 'dad shoe' is right on trend, has had high-profile collaborations and was worn at the Fifa World Cup. New Balance sneakers might be known as the ultimate in “dad shoes”, but the brand is proving it can get down with the kids too.

Based on our Supplier Code of Conduct, we have zero tolerance for forced labor anywhere in our supply chain and seek to ensure that the people who make our products, no matter where they are in the world, are treated with dignity and respect.

Since 2002, New Balance has been the only athletic shoe company still making shoes in the United States, but it retains six contract plants in China.

However, New Balance does not score well for its lack of shoes made with Sustainable Materials; hardly any products were found to contain compostable, recyclable, repairable or recycled materials. Another Environmental criticism comes from the group Zero Waste France.

Gap Inc., which also owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, GapKids and babyGap, is the largest clothing company in the U.S. Gap profits more from the global sweatshop system than any oth- er clothing company.

Do Chinese sweatshops still exist? ›

One of the most common misconceptions about Chinese factories is that they are sweatshops where workers are forced to work long hours in terrible conditions for low wages. While it is true that some Chinese factories have been accused of mistreating workers, the majority of factories in China work within the law.

The Nike Sweatshop Scandal began in 1991 when Jeff Ballinger published a report detailing the appalling working conditions of garment workers at Nike's factory in Indonesia. Does the Nike sweatshop scandal involve human rights violations? Yes, the Nike sweatshop scandal involved human rights violations.

Now, growing rebellion among Amazon's warehouse workforce reveals that the global delivery system is based on sweatshop conditions and union busting. Lowering labor standards worldwide.

It was found three years ago that a Wal-Mart supplier in China was subjecting its workers to 90-hour weeks, exceptionally low pay and, allegedly, beatings by guards. The company has cancelled its contract with the factory, as well as other alleged sweatshops in Nicaragua, Burma and Bangladesh.

Since the late 1990s, human rights groups have reported that many of Disney's consumer products have been made in sweatshops in Bangladesh, China, and Haiti.

New Balance is committed to fair and ethical business practices around the world. New Balance is committed to doing business with manufacturers and suppliers that share our commitment to labor and environmental best practices.

Like other multinational companies, Nike outsources the production of sportswear and sneakers to developing economies to save costs, taking advantage of a cheap workforce. This has given birth to sweatshops - factories where workers are forced to work long hours at very low wages under abysmal working conditions.