Phil Knight Quotes

A very big passion of mine and that of the people that run our production is finding factories that have fair labor practices and treating them more like partners in our family than people just who are going to produce for us.

Buy your fair-trade coffee beans by all means, but don't assume fair-trade principles govern the conditions of the men who fetch it to you. You would be mistaken.

People do care where their food, or other goods, comes from, not merely if the price is right. And that means no business can afford to ignore the impacts their buying practices have on producers and on the perceptions and choices of consumers.

I don't want anything that I buy to have done any harm to anyone or anything.

Once you start thinking about where your products come from and what they 'do,' that's going to be an inherent part of your choice as you purchase products throughout your life.

Yes, I will put it out there - I will work for anyone for free if they're prepared to make their clothing Fair Trade and organic. It's really hard to get people interested in it.

But isn't it time for Christians to admit that we should reject bargains if they are gained by the exploitation of the poorest of the poor in developing countries?

I would not take one cup of coffee from a grower...There's not a good one. I hate them. A few presents, a little talk, then the noose. That's how capitalism works.

The product supply chain, from source material to store, is an organizing map for delivering human rights.

I have no interest in being the biggest, the most profitable or the largest retailer. I just want The Body Shop to be the best, most breathlessly exciting company - and one that changes the way business is carried out.

We decided long ago that we didn't want Chipotle's success to be tied to the exploitation of animals, farmers, or the environment, but the engagement of our customers.

Customers want good value, but they care more than ever how food and clothing products are made.

If you have a sense that your money is somehow, even indirectly, contributing to a cause that you find morally problematic, then it seems somewhere between reasonable and obligatory for you to vote with your dollars.

American workers won't be able to compete fairly for jobs until companies have to pay higher wages in countries like China and India.

In our desire for inexpensive handmade products, we must not lose sight of whose hands actually make the product.

American policymakers have a choice to make in trade relations with China. They can side with the importers and outsourcers, and stand by passively as China takes advantage of its WTO membership and access to the U.S. market, abusing its own workers and artificially undervaluing its currency in order to undercut American workers and domestic manufacturers. Or they can take a stand for American jobs and act now to ensure that China plays fair in the global economy.

As consumers, we can pressure corporations both to monitor and improve workplace conditions overseas - when inspections reveal violations, these companies should address the gaps immediately.

I'm into fashion and design and clothing, but I'm not into supporting brands if I don't know what their message is, and how the people that work for them are treated.

I want consumers to connect the dots, to go to any store and look at the label and connect the dots between buying cheap China products, which is better for the wallet, and all the other things we lose, like jobs.

Migrant workers have helped build our roads, homes and offices. We cannot stand and watch them be homeless.

Corporate greed, corporate bullying cannot be tolerated - it's time for a global rule of law to guarantee fair trade, rights, minimum wages on which people can live with dignity, and safe and secure work.

Globalization can be shaped to ensure that people matter.

A binding treaty and mandatory human rights due diligence would clean up slavery in global supply chains. Workers demand it, and consumers demand it.

In some ways, [the student anti-sweatshop movement] is like the anti-apartheid movement, except that in this case its striking at the core of the relations of exploitation. Much of this was initiated by Charlie Kernaghan of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights.

Much the way I want to know if my food is farm-raised, or wild, or if my orange juice is fresh or from concentrate. I also believe I have the right, and we as Americans all have the right to know what's in our food.