Adidas To Make a One-Euro Sports Shoe For World's Poor

Adidas plans to make 'one-euro shoes' to offer to the poor and barefoot of the world, with pilot production to begin next year in Bangladesh.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus suggested the 'social business' project to the company, which normally focuses on trendy, expensive sportswear.

People in the poor world need products that are both affordable and manufactured locally, thus, creating jobs. The first Adidas non-profit shoes will be made in and for Bangladesh.

The product is to be sold at no more than the cost of materials and manufacture.

The Adidas move matches those by other multinational companies eager to show social responsibility, such as drug companies offering low-cost medicines in poor nations or technology companies trying to develop the '100-dollar laptop.'

Shoemakers have often been accused of exploiting workers in their developing-nation factories.  This is a big step changing that perception and creating a win-win scenario.