Adidas Shoes

I bought a new pair of shoes this summer because I needed them for work. They are a grey pair of Adidas Cloudforms that were on sale at Shoe Dept. on the given saturday afternoon that I was in town. When I was making the purchase, I wasn't thinking about all the steps it took to get those shoes to me. The shoes were made in Vietnam, most likely in a large factory with thousands of employees. I don't know what situation the individual that made my shoes is in, is he/she trying to provide for a family? Are they getting a fair wage? Do they have any benefits available to them? It's crazy to think that a simple pair of shoes has traveled halfway across the world so that they can be available to consumers like me. Shoes are part of our culture, it seems weird for us to see people without shoes, especially in a place of work. These shoes impact my life a lot although they seem extremely insignificant. I wear them at least 3 times a week to meet my dress code requirements at work as well as comfort for myself. Shoes do a great deal for us and we are aware of this but we just see it as part of our nature, it's just 'normal' to us.

My brother and I were just having a conversation on shoe factories (we're fun at parties) I too found it rather shocking that those overseas making the shoe's probably don't make what we pay for them. Do you think if those making these shoes were paid more would effect the cost that we pay for shoes?

Do you consider whether it's made in your country when you buy shoes? And which country makes shoes is a factor that you consider buying it?

Whether in or outside the country, how do you think the implemencation of the manufacturing plant has effected the people around it?

Absolutely! Basic economic principles state that if the cost to make the product rises the cost of the product will rise also! The company will make sure they get their money!

Normally I don't really give much thought to where the shoe was made, I pay more attention to the brand I guess.

It's astonishing when you realize just how important shoes are to our culture and what they say about us. Personally I have 11 pairs of shoes that I wear on a regular basis and always have three pairs of shoes by the front door. As Americans it seems like we have shoes for every occasion in my case I have 2 pairs of work shoes, one pair of running shoes, heels for special occasions, casual flip flops, formal flip flops and so many different pairs of boots that it's embarrassing to talk about (just know I have a pair of shoes for literally every occasion). When put into perspective, it is almost impossible to track down every life that I have touched by purchasing all of the shoes. Speaking of the environment with production, it isn't a very positive effect, most of my shoes have rubber bottoms and the fumes needed to make the shoes can't be safe to inhale. With that being said, most of the factory workers are probably in bad working conditions because brand name companies tent to manufacture their items in countries with low to none restrictions.

Do you think this is fair to Vietnamese workers?
They took cheap wages and produced expensive shoes