Adidas Athletic Uniforms to be Outsourced

Tuesday 15th of June 2010 10:39:52 PM

Globalization has changed the way clothing manufacturers do business. Companies once produced their own clothing in home country factories. Now you don’t know for sure where the clothing on your back was manufactured. You only know the brand name because clothing manufactured overseas is labeled with the selling company’s brand.

A good example is the Adidas sports and athletic wear company. People love to wear uniforms and specially designed athletic wear even when playing on informal teams. Adidas has built a large company producing high quality athletic clothing. Sometimes the prices on the clothing can get expensive which forces the company to seek the most inexpensive manufacturers but without giving up quality. Recently the company announced it was outsourcing some of its clothing lines to a garment factory located in Belarus. The Slavyanka garment factory must prove its ability to meet Adidas quality standards though before the contract will be continued.

This kind of globalization is not unusual. Companies can easily cross borders today and do business with a variety of manufacturers. Though this practice has been ongoing for a while, the one thing that has changed is the practice of demanding garment manufacturers meet certain safety and health standards.

In the Adidas example, the Slavyanka factory had to pass a number of inspections related to working conditions. For example, the factory has to maintain worker rights which include timely salary payment. It also must monitor that safety standards are met. The factory must provide a clean and healthy working environment also.

The way Adidas handled the contract with a foreign manufacturer is a good example of the types of standards businesses will be setting as Fair Labor practices are enforced. So the next time you put on your athletic wear or comfortable printed t-shirts just remember that someone in a factory far away worked diligently to bring you high quality play clothes.