Sweat

BBC News is reporting that Nike has decided to open up records pertaining to their 700 factories worldwide. Finally.

Debora Spar, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, said the publication of the report showed that Nike had "turned a corner".

"Back when all this came out, their top manager was quoted as saying, 'I don't know what is going on and I don't know that I need to know'," Professor Spar told the Associated Press.

"They have now realised that they have to know."

Not to claim Kale Lasn and Adbusters' Black Spot Sneakers have changed attitudes, but then again, let's give some credit where it is due. A direct campaign aimed at exposing trends in sweatshopping and economic human rights violations can lead to more awareness, partially shown by this turn by Nike. Also, organizations like No Sweat Apparel offer variations on the theme; and with Ali Hewson (Bono's wife) opening her new line of EDUN hoity-toity duds, it goes to show that with a little effort and resourcefulness, we don't need the sweatshop model any more, and that transparent economics can be achieved on the consumer level.