Boondoggle introduces clothes control at sports events

We all expect our sports heroes to renounce doping and be clean. But when it comes to our favorite sports cloths brands we show little critical gusto. Remarkably, since most of our sportswear is made in unsafe factories in Cambodia, Indonesia or Bangladesh, by seamstresses who work long hours for a miserable wage.

To raise awareness of this issue amongst the sportive Flemish, Boondoggle came up with a remarkable campaign for it’s client “Wereldsolidariteit”. During the “Tour of Flanders”, the biggest cycling event on Belgium’s cycling crazy agenda we introduced a new “control”; instead of a doping control, we held the world’s first shirt control. Every controlled participant got to hear the truth about the production conditions in which their sports shirt was made. Not even Kris Peeters, Deputy Prime Minister, got away without a confrontation. “Wereldsolidariteit” plans to execute more shirt controls during the summer sports season at cycling and athletics events.

With this campaign Wereldsolidariteit, an NGO promoting humane working conditions, urges everyone to sign the Clean Clothes petition, following the example of this year’s Tour of Flanders winner Philippe Gilbert. By doing so, pressure can be put on Belgian sports brands to give textile workers in Asia an honest wage and humane working conditions.