Adidas felt the heat of fan fury today when protesters set fire to an adidas effigy outside Eden Park.
The global sporting giant has been at the centre of a rugby jersey-pricing storm since it was revealed replica All Black tops could be bought much cheaper overseas than here in New Zealand.
The jersey was retailing in New Zealand for $220 but was listed for sale at US$79.99 (NZ$92.68) on US websites and could be found cheaper on British websites.
Adidas then barred those online sites from selling to New Zealanders.
Responding to fan anger, New Zealand retailers dropped the retail price by about $50 as the debate raged.
Adidas has refused to drop the wholesale price.
And today a protest group calling itself Socialist Aotearoa set up a replica of the adidas three stripes outside Eden Park - site of the Rugby World Cup final - and set fire to them.
Spokesperson for the group, Jo Carolan, said while people were taking issue with adidas’s world cup jersey they also needed to know about working conditions.
“What many people might not be aware of is how they treat their workers who come from countries where it is impossible to form trade unions or collective agreements.”
Carolan said the world cup rugby jersey prices highlighted the low costs of labour paid by adidas and the huge prices paid for the products in the west.
With him was son Oison, 4, who Carolan said was just a few years younger than many workers in adidas factories.
He said adidas should have nothing to do with the All Blacks and merchandise for both the All Blacks and the RWC merchandise should be made in New Zealand.
“[But] it is near impossible for New Zealand companies to compete.”
The fire brigade were called to the protest.
Station Officer Chris Todd said the fire posed little danger but people were not supposed to light fires on the streets.
"It’s nearly all over so we are just going to help them dampen it down, he said.’’
Todd and his team hosed down the sign, which had little left but a dollar sign in place of the S in adidas.
While adidas has not backed down on its pricing, New Zealanders again have access to two overseas websites selling cheap All Blacks jerseys.
Adidas Asia-Pacific managing director Greg Kerr told TVNZ he believed the wholesale pricing was “fair and reasonable” and the strong New Zealand dollar had a “major impact as far as our pricing is concerned”.
Adidas claims that the difference in prices between New Zealand and those offshore is because of its involvement into grassroots rugby and the retail landscape with its stores, as they invest “significant amounts here that isn’t invested in other parts of the world”.
According to adidas’ sustainability and corporate responsibility website, there are more than 1120 factories around the world that are part of the supply chain making products for adidas. Six countries account for a large portion of the factories including China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
The Rugby World Cup-branded jerseys are made in Thailand, and the non-tournament All Blacks jerseys are made in China.
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Local manufacturers have estimated it cost about $8 to make the jerseys.
Oxfam New Zealand executive director Barry Coates agreed.
"We know about how the jerseys are made in Thailand and China. From our understanding of the labour costs side of it, that sounds about right, but we don’t have any primary information on it.
“However, we’ve heard nothing to say that there’s any extremely expensive materials to justify a $220 selling price.”
Coates said workers were typically paid around $1 an hour in factories in Asia. He said companies needed to calculate and pay its workers a living wage, as the minimum wage in developing countries was often much less.
- Auckland Now
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/news/5440764/Adidas-feels-the-heat-of-fan-fury