Recognizing the high incidence of child workers
in the Pakistani soccer ball industry, Reebok International Ltd.
announced in 1996 that they plan to buy soccer balls that they “knew
with certainty” were not made using child labor. Reebok contracted with
companies to build a soccer ball manufacturing plant. The new facility,
located in Sialkot, began making balls in 1997. Soccer balls produced
for Reebok by Moltex bear a label stating “guarantee: manufactured
without child labor.” Independent monitors, hired to check the
effectiveness of the program, verify that child labor is not used to
produce Reebok soccer balls.
