Inside the factories producing football shirts for global clubs

Workers producing official football shirts for some of the world’s biggest clubs are earning less than £1 an hour, while reporting difficult working conditions inside factories in Cambodia. An investigation traced authentic shirts for clubs including Arsenal, Liverpool, Celtic and Real Madrid to two Cambodian factories, where workers described long hours, intense heat, production pressure and verbal abuse. At Bowker Garment Factory and Trax Apparel, employees typically work six eight-hour shifts each week. Payslips reviewed during the investigation showed basic monthly salaries of between $2

Workers producing official football shirts for some of the world’s biggest clubs are earning less than £1 an hour, while reporting difficult working conditions inside factories in Cambodia. An investigation traced authentic shirts for clubs including Arsenal, Liverpool, Celtic and Real Madrid to two Cambodian factories, where workers described long hours, intense heat, production pressure and verbal abuse. At Bowker Garment Factory and Trax Apparel, employees typically work six eight-hour shifts each week. Payslips reviewed during the investigation showed basic monthly salaries of between $210 and $220, with some workers earning around $300 after overtime and allowances. Workers said their wages were barely enough to cover rent, food and utilities. One employee said a football shirt sold for around $120 could cost a worker more than two weeks of salary. Conditions inside the factories were another concern. A thermometer photographed at Bowker recorded temperatures of 35.2°C, while workers on production lines described the heat as physically exhausting. Employees also reported pressure to complete daily production targets of between 300 and 700 items. Some said they faced shouting and verbal abuse when targets were missed. One worker alleged suffering electric shocks from exposed wiring after repeatedly raising safety concerns. Adidas, which does not own the factories but uses both as primary suppliers, said it conducts around 1,200 factory audits each year and has measures in place to support fair and safe working conditions. Trax said cooling systems were available and denied operating its production system through enforced output targets. Bowker did not respond to requests for comment. The findings come as official football shirts continue to become more expensive. The average adult Premier League replica shirt has reportedly risen by more than 50% over the past decade according to  BBC Sport. The situation raises a difficult question for football fans and the industry: how much of the price paid for an official shirt reaches the workers who make it?