Cheap Shoes

The Wal-Mart, globalization, and sweatshop labor questions about the benefits of trade summarized in a tennis shoe:

Sneakers for Social Justice?, by Dave Zirin, The Nation: Stephon Marbury, the wildly talented and widely criticized point guard for the New York Knicks, usually carries a Q rating commensurate with Kim Jong Il. Making max dollars and being the face of the NBA's most dysfunctional franchise will do that. But Marbury has been drawing high-profile praise in recent days for promoting a new basketball sneaker described as "revolutionary."

What's "revolutionary" about the new Starbury One--a reference to Marbury's on-court moniker--is that ... Starbury Ones are listed at $14.98.That's $14.98. Not $149.80. As William Rhoden recently wrote in the New York Times, "This is an industry in which star athletes encourage children to buy shoes for anywhere from $75 to $200."

The shoe is not cardboard and canvas but serious and solid enough that Marbury has pledged to wear them in games this season. He says his motivation was rooted in discussions he had with Knicks GM Isaiah Thomas about the civil rights movement and Marbury's eventual legacy. ... In tune with the idea of a sneaker for social justice, Marbury's website urges visitors to "join the movement," and the chic insignia, familiar to those with a fascination for Che Guevara, is a stylized red star. Marbury isn't all talk. He has a history of putting his money where his heart is. He pledged about $500,000 last year to help victims of Hurricane Katrina...

The Starbury One sneaker is ... flying out of the stores as quickly as they are being made. As Howard Schacter from Steve and Barry's told me, "The vision we shared with Stephon was to eliminate the incredible pressure kids and parents feel to pay top dollar for the latest and coolest sneakers and clothes. What we're saying is, You can pay a lot less for these things.... it simply doesn't cost that much to make high-quality sneakers and clothes."

But the Starbury One--because of both its price and the fact that it is being marketed as footwear for social justice--has also invited scrutiny. The athletic shoe industry is notorious for some of the most appalling of sweatshop conditions. Are the Starbury Ones, made in China, produced in such a manner?

Schacter says no. ... "...in our history and culture is a deep commitment to legal compliance and ethical business practices. This commitment is a fundamental part of the philosophy upon which we were founded."

Schacter says that costs are kept low because their business model "eliminates the middleman" by producing their own product and selling them in Steve and Barry's stores. They also rely on word-of-mouth instead of national advertising campaigns.

But some leading antisweatshop activists doubt this claim... Jim Keady is ... co-director of the antisweatshop organization Educating for Justice. He ... said... "...I would bet my professional reputation that these shoes are produced in sweatshop conditions. That said, Asbury Park has a poverty rate of 30 percent. I see kids buying sneakers I know they can't afford, so it is a good thing an affordable sneaker is available." ...

I was unable to reach Marbury for this piece, but it's difficult to imagine him being unsympathetic to the plight of workers overseas. He has spoken out about selling sodas on the beaches of Coney Island as a young boy, trudging on the sand and trying to scrape a dollar or two from the tourists visiting the famed amusement park. ...

As Jim Keady said, "The real slam-dunk would be if Stephon Marbury came forward and said, 'Not only do I want poor kids to be able to afford my sneakers. I want their moms and dads to have good-paying factory jobs-- in Coney Island, Bed-Stuy or Asbury Park for that matter. Imagine that: a sneaker made for the players in Brooklyn by the people in Brooklyn, he said. "Would they be able to sell them for $14.98? Maybe not, but that would be a tremendous model that other athletes and other entrepreneurs could follow."

Comments

[Richard]

[to welcome him back, the best Calmo immitation that I can muster]: But cheap shoes goes hand in hand with cheap labor, no? I prefer my shoes hand-made (and by my own hands, no less) so that I avoid the conflict entirely (my uncompensated labor produces some pretty cheap shoes, no). And you?

[mb]

Jim Keady's comments were (1) evidence-free, and (2) implicitly assume that moms & dads in the US are more worthy of improving their living standards than their counterparts in China. That is NOT "educating for justice".

[calmo]

Richard The Cobbler
Hats off to you sir. I don't think I could manage to sew up a pair of sneakers, but with your ( inspirational!!! ) testament, I think I could manage a pair of socks. Now to find some knitting needles and an old lady to start me on my way...
I don't know much about basketball (or any sport for that matter) but I'm impressed with Marbury. I'd buy those shoes if I could find them...(and the T-shirt, shorts, thong, cap) [Ok, maybe not the thong]
Jim Keady, (stunned) anti-sweatshopman, needs to stretch that noodle and fuggedabout that straight and narrow rut he is plowing (with his pointy forehead, yes?).

[panasianbiz]

Mark, this was a terrific piece that managed to present in a fair manner both the facts and questions about the implications of the low price of these shoes. This is a story that has piqued my interest enough that I will be looking for future developments eagerly.

[save_the_rustbelt]

For the past 25 years my children have worn cooler shoes than I because their coolness was more important than mine, and that affected economic allocations in our household.

Perhaps now I can afford cool shoes.

But alas, I will still be a nerd, albeit with cooler shoes.

No more Payless for me!

[calmo]

"cooler shoes" -not sandals right?
Geeze, nothin I wear is cool and I kinda doubt whether anything I ever wore was cool. [Send your donations to 'Project: Cool Calmo']
I would be embarassed to be identified as wearing anything cool.
Misidentified for sure. (Are you sure you're talking about MY shoes, lady?) [You figure she is an authority on what is cool and like I'm in the backwoods on this delicate issue? I'm in charge of my wardrobe people. I am]

Such a poetic line STR and not the first time either:
No more Payless for me!

[Sam Wardle]

Does anyone else think it is at all weird that we are looking to an entertainer to define social justice and that we expect him to even go further and campaign for better jobs? Come on! What a joke. The real progress would be if we started looking to our leaders to make these statements. It is a very, very scary America when the Terminator and The Body are governors, Brad Pitt makes a peace tour in the Middle East, George Clooney and Bono campaign in Darfur, and a basketball star makes a social statement with his shoe contract. F--k that.

[calmo]

It does say something about our (non-entertaining) leaders Sam, you are right.
The real progress would be if we started looking to our leaders to make these statements. It's almost as if we are praying out elected politicians are not abusing their offices --we have lost any hope that they could possibly inspire or lead us. We hope they don't embarrass us.
So sad and not helped to remember that only about half turn out to vote.
Sam, you have depressed me.

[save_the_rustbelt]

Sam:

Why can't a basketball player say something about social justice?

Do we have to sit around of wait for elected leaders and acamedicians to carry our water?

Think Jackie Robinson. Think Tuskegee Airman. Think Rosa Parks, etc., etc.

[save_the_rustbelt]

Calmo:

I had some cool stuff once, I think near the start of the disco era. Didn't last long.

Now I could lose my CPA license for wearing anything cool or having a personality, so I have to be careful. No danger of developing a personality.

I might wear the cool shoes on weekends though, as an act of social protest or something.