No Sweat Introduces World's Most Revolutionary Sneaker

http://www.nosweatapparel.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=NSS

Press Release: For Immediate Release

Contact: Adam Neiman

877.992.7827, cell # 617-686-5434

No Sweat Apparel, the pioneer fair trade fashion brand, is rolling out the world's most revolutionary sneaker in time for World Fair Trade Day,May 8, 2004. It may look like a converse all-star knock off, but this sneaker comes with a feature that no sneaker in history has ever had. Each shoebox contains a detailed fact sheet that tells consumers exactly what wages and benefits the union workers who produced the sneakers get paid. The upstart start up has challenged Nike and Reebok to do the same.

"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," said No Sweat's Founder and CEO, Adam Neiman "We hope every sneaker company in the world will imitate this innovation. In fact, we dare them to." No Sweat believes
their sneaker will become the model for ethical outsourcing.

The no sweat sneaker is selling like hotcakes on line at
nosweatsneaker.com and will be in stores in North America on May 1 of this year. The May Day launch of the world's first fair trade sneaker is no coincidence. The shoe is produced at a union shop in Jakarta, Indonesia. The workers, represented by SMTP, receive a benefits and pay
package starting at some 785,000 rupiah per month. That's almost 30% above minimum wage in Indonesia, with 100% health care for employees and 80% coverage for family members. Plus a pension! Additional benefits include things less common in a western collective labor agreement, like a 30-liter a month rice allowance.

"This isn't a socialist workers paradise," said No Sweat co-founder Jeff Ballinger. "It's just decent and fair. But the difference between bad and decent is huge." Ballinger should know. He's the man who wrote the original expose of Nike for Harper's Magazine in 1992. While working in
Indonesia for the AFL-CIO, he discovered one excellent union shop, producing shoes primarily for the local market. Twelve years later that factory became the source for No Sweat's new sneaker.

The fair trade sneaker comes at a fair price too. At $35 a pair the no sweat sneaker is a competitive alternative to the Nike owned converse all star.

"It's not rocket science," said operations manager Anne O'Loughlin, who's returning from Jakarta after inspecting the union shop in person. "You just give everyone -workers, consumers and investors, a fair shake. Then you do it again the next day. Is there really any other
sustainable business model?"