Mitre Sports

OVERALL
Owned	UK
Rating

Sporting goods

Established in England in 1817, Mitre is the world's oldest manufacturer of footballs. Bought by Pentland in 1995.

Company Ownership


Mitre Sports International	UK	website	email
Pentland Group plc owns 100% of Mitre Sports International	UK	website	email
Clothing Bought Speedo and eight other major sporting goods brands in the 1990's. Owned by Stephen Rubin and family.

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Company Assessment

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INFORMATION

Mitre Sports International

Child labour

In 2008 the International Labor Rights Forum released a report about major instances of child labor in the soccer ball industry in India. Around the same time HBO in America aired a news story entitled "Childhood Lost" on their show "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel". The report exposed the horrid conditions taking place in India with the production of these balls through child labor. Some of the footage showed children stitching soccer balls for Mitre for 5 cents per hour. Mitre sued HBO for defamation, claiming the "show is defamatory because the kids were sewing balls for other companies as well". [Listed under Information due to age of report]
Source: Change.org (2008)

Pentland Group plc

Ethical Trading Initiative member

The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is an alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs. They work in partnership to improve the lives of workers across the globe who make or grow consumer goods - everything from tea to T-shirts, from flowers to footballs. This company is a full member.
Source: Ethical Trading Initiative (2018)

COVID Fashion Commitments

In 2020 Baptist World Aid Australia released The COVID Fashion Report, a special edition of their Ethical Fashion Report. The report is framed around six COVID Fashion Commitments that ask companies to demonstrate the steps and measures they are taking to protect and support the most vulnerable workers in their supply chains. This company showed evidence of actions that cover ALL areas of the COVID Fashion Commitments.
Source: Baptist World Aid Australia (2020)

Transparency Pledge

The Apparel and Footwear Supply Chain Transparency Pledge (Transparency Pledge) helps demonstrate apparel and footwear companies' commitment towards greater transparency in their manufacturing supply chain. Transparency of a company's manufacturing supply chain better enables a company to collaborate with civil society in identifying, assessing, and avoiding actual or potential adverse human rights impacts. This is a critical step that strengthens a company's human rights due diligence. This company is fully aligned with the Transparency Pledge, thereby committing to regularly publish on its website a list naming all sites that manufacture its products.
Source: Clean Clothes Campaign (2019)

Efforts to pay a living wage

The Clean Clothes Campaign report, Tailored Wages 2019 analyses responses from 32 top clothing brands about their progress in implementing a living wage for the workers who produce their clothes. This company received the lowest possible grade in the report, meaning they produced no evidence that any worker making their clothes was paid a living wage anywhere in the world.
Source: Clean Clothes Campaign (2019)

Sweatshops in China

This 2007 investigative report by China Labour Watch reveals poor work conditions for Chinese workers making products for this company, such as workers being required to work nine hours per day as regular hours in addition to five to six hours of mandatory overtime during peak season which accumulates to 14 work hours per day, about 420 hours per month. [Listed under information due to age of report]
Source: China Labour Watch (2007)

Workers rights

Playfair 2012, a coalition of trade unions and campaigning organisations, says this company is not doing enough to: ensure all workers are paid a living wage; allow workers to bargain collectively; eliminate short term contracts; and build long-term relationships with supplier factories. [Listed under Information due to age of report]
Source: Playfair 2012 (2012)

CSR claims

This company has responsibility claims on its website in the areas of environment, ethical trade, supporting local communities, and reducing the environmental impacts of the materials and processes used to make their products.
Source: company website (2015)

ACT participant

This company is a participant in the Action, Collaboration, Transformation (ACT) initiative, an initiative between international brands and retailers, manufacturers, and trade unions to address the issue of living wages in the textile and garment supply chain.
Source: HiiL (2018)

Sustainable Apparel Coalition member

This company is a founding member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a multi-stakeholder initiative launched in March 2011 by a group of global apparel and footwear companies and non-profit organizations (representing nearly one third of the global market share for apparel and footwear). The Coalition's goals are to reduce the apparel industry's environmental and social impact, and to develop a universal index to measure environmental and social performance of apparel products.
Source: Sustainable Apparel Coalition (2020)

Better Work Partner

This company is a partner of Better Work, an initiative of the UN's International Labour Organization and the International Finance Corporation which brings diverse groups together - governments, global brands, factory owners, and unions and workers - to improve working conditions in the garment industry and make the sector more competitive.
Source: Better Work (2020)

Leather Working Group member

This company is a member of the Leather Working Group, a multi-stakeholder group who's objective is to develop and maintain a protocol that assesses the compliance and environmental performance of tanners and promotes sustainable and appropriate environmental business practices within the leather industry.
Source: Leather Working Group (2019)

Modern Slavery statement

California, the UK and Australia have all enacted legislation requiring companies operating within their borders to disclose their efforts to eradicate modern slavery from their operations and supply chains. Follow the link to see this company's disclosure statement.
Source: Modern Slavery Registry (2017)

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Company Details

Type	Private company

Contact Details

Address	London, United Kingdom
Email	enquiries@Mitre.com
Website	www.mitre.com

Products / Brands

Mitre Sports

Mitre Sports Shoes

Mitre Sports

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