How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

"I encourage you to note assume that every Asian worker is a slave." I do NOTE, that I was on Korea for 18 months, and saw over 20 factories, and knew a few people that worked there. They were making 1/10 of the minimum wage in America at the time, $0.75 vs $7.50, Today they are making $6.94, so I would assume that They are making few shoes in Korea.

"While it's difficult to pinpoint exactly which country pays the absolute least for shoe manufacturing, countries like Vietnam and Cambodia are known for having lower labor costs and are major footwear exporters, making them likely to be at the lower end of the wage scale for shoe production."

In Cambodia, they pay $208 per month, which is assuming a 160 hour work month, which I guarantee is the bare minimum which gives them $1.30 in wages per hour.

"In Vietnam, shoe manufacturing workers typically earn wages that are significantly below a living wage, though some companies affiliated with the Fair Labor Association (FLA) pay double the minimum wage."

In Vietnam they pay $68/ month, which is $0.42 and 1/2 cents an hour.

The premise of the article, and the statistics they use are all based on preported manufactures claims, not the reality that exists in that country.

I would dismiss this article as pure fantasy.

I mean, unless you think it's forced labor it's better than the alternative

It is pure fantasy.

Pray tell, if they aren’t slaves, are they free to leave, and where to? What an asshole.

> I would dismiss this article as pure fantasy.

Why? The article starts from the point where Nike pays $25 per shoe boarded into a container on a boat, where that number covers all expenses until that point. Yes, this includes the shoe workers' wages, but it also has the factory construction and maintenance, manufacturing equipment, the inputs that go into the shoe, transport to get the shoes packed into a container and to the port, etc etc.

“I encourage you to not assume that every Asian worker is a slave."

That’s a hell of a dodge. The problem isn’t that these workers are mistreated, it’s that you’re a racist.

Vietnam does not pay $68/month. Where did you get your made up numbers?

Source: brother works in a Nike factory in Vietnam; am acquaintances with the manager of an Adidas factory in Vietnam; and know that the legal minimum wage in Vietnam -- which is definitely enforced on foreign factories -- is far above $68/month.

My brother at the Nike factory makes almost 10x that assembling women's shoes.

Someone working part time at a convience store makes 3-4x your claimed number.

Because $25 per "pair" of shoes is absurd. That's Nike "juking" the stats to make it look like they pay far more than they do per pair of shoes. For one thing, as a consumer you can buy individually shoes that are at least as good of quality as any Nike Shoe for anywhere from $8-$12 delivered. So the idea that Nike, in bulk, is running factories that are known to be questionable and paying $25 per shoe is "pure fantasy". Just based on known labor rates and material costs it's safe to say $4 on the high end if you factor in a bunch of operational and brand based overhead.

The $25 number comes from Steve Bence, Nike's Program Director in Footwear Sourcing and Manufacturing. I would also take that number with a grain of salt, but another cited source, Sole Review, an independent sneaker review site, estimates that manufacturing a shoe that's $100 at retail shoe costs $22.

So those are the article's sources. What are yours?

I'm also curious about your claim about $8-12 shoes that are equivalent in quality, because while you can, indeed, buy very cheap shoes on Aliexpress etc, the quality or lack thereof is usually commensurate.

I can't believe Nike spends 25 dollars on the actual making of the shoes, it just doesn't add up.

Nike sneakers regularly sell to consumers for ~25 dollars, in brick-and-mortar stores, in countries that have 20% VAT.

Naturally Nike wants to claim their shoes are as valuable as possible, and they can perhaps somewhat truthfully claim 25 dollars by including the cost of R&D, sponsorships and marketing etc in the cost of making the shoes.

Then they can spread the total cost of Nike operations creatively over models that sell 1 million units and others that sell only 50 000 units.

If shoes cost 5 dollars to make but you feel you need to pay Serena and Tiger 20 bucks per shoe to sell them, suddenly they "cost" 25 to "make".

They're not saying the incremental cost of making a single shoe is $25. They're saying that, after everything is accounted for, it costs Nike approx $25 to get a $100 retail shoe onto a boat in China.

And yes, Nike has cheaper shoes too, but per article, if it's retailing for $50, it probably costs $12 tops to make.

>In Cambodia, they pay $208 per month, which is assuming a 160 hour work month, which I guarantee is the bare minimum which gives them $1.30 in wages per hour.

That means nothing without knowing what other jobs pay and what the overall cost of living is. It honestly feels a little dishonest to convert things to USD without either putting it in perspective to the rest of their costs or adjusting it to a value that reflects the spending power of that amount of money. Does $1.30 buy them one hamburger or would it buy them 10+?