The Trainers Race

A quiz to uncover the realities behind the trainers business

There’s a race to get you to buy the right trainers. So why not sprint through this quiz and see who crosses the finish line first with the most answers correct?
Note to activity leaders: This quiz can be undertaken on a running track, or in a sports hall with cones marking the different levels.

10 metres How many pairs of trainers does Nike produce each year?
a) 900,000
b) 9 million
c) 90 million
Answer: c) - thats one pair of Nike trainers for every 66 people on the planet
20 metres Most big brand trainers are made in:
a) USA
b) UK
c) Asian countries such as china, Thailand and the Philippines
Answer: c) - ninety per cent of Nike’s trainers are currently produced in Thailand
30 metres Do companies like Nike, Reebok and Adidas:
a) run their own shoe factories?
b) pay other factories to make their shoes?
c) employ skilled shoemakers to make each pair?
Answer: b) - Nike does not own a single factory
40 metres How much from your average £100 pair of trainers goes to the factory workers who stitched them?
a) 40p
b) £2.50
c) £7.50
Answer: a) - that’s less than one percent
50 metres How much did Michael Jordan get paid for endorsing Nike in 1998?
a) $4 million
b) $45 million
c) $450 million
Answer: b) enough to buy almost a million pairs of £50 trainers
60 metres A hearing of the European Parliament recently talked about Adidas. What did they discuss?
a) Which Adidas trainers are the coolest
b) Workers who make Adidas trainers being forced to work long hours for less than 70p a day
c) Sexual harassment and physical abuse of workers who make trainers.
Answer: b) and c) - Adidas refuse to attend the hearing.
Finish What proportion of UK consumers think there should be minimum standards of working conditions for workers in the Third World?
a) 2.9%
b) 29%
c) 92%
Answer: c) - are you one of them?

Quiz taken from: Youth Topics: CAFOD, Christian Aid, SCIAF. Youth Topics, available on loan from GED’s resource library, is a collection specially designed activities covering a wide range of issues from gender and stereotypes to refugees and conflict.