ETHLETIC SportsballsFAQ's:
- How is the Fairtrade premium spent? How do we know the money is being used properly?
- Why are sports balls not delivered inflated?
- How long will it take for a sports ball to reach me after ordering?
- What is the difference between our footballs and the major brands?
- What is the difference between footballs offered by Fair Deal Trading and cheap footballs?
- What are the quality criteria for Footballs?
- My Sports ball is losing air - is this normal?
- What are balls made of?
- Who monitors that the fair trade criteria are complied with?
What are the quality criteria for Footballs?
Even though most ball types are round - more or less - there are significant differences in quality. The problem, however, is that with balls it is quite difficult to tell the difference from the outside appearance. Still, knowing the major parameters might help to appreciate the quality of our sports balls.
Material and thickness of the outer skin: From a quality as well as an environmental point of view, PU (polyurethane) outers are the first choice for most footballs - unless one opts for a rubber coat as in the ETHLETIC GreenStar (rugby and most basketballs also have rubber outers). FairDeal Trading in principle does not use PVC.
Inner construction: To provide strength, textile backing is laminated against the outer skin. More layers increase the durability. Most FairDeal Trading balls use four layers of tightly woven polyester fabric. Lamination, incidentally, on ETHLETIC branded balls is done with Fairly Traded, FSC certified latex.
Bladder: There are two types of bladders: Pure natural latex, or butyl (artificial rubber made from petroleum). For environmental reasons we opt for latex bladders wherever possible, Fairly Traded and FSC certified - even though natural latex bladders do need to be re-pumped once in a while since they lose some air naturally.