"While we respect the concerns expressed by Jonah Perretti, we do not accept that the vehicle he wished to use was the right one to get his point across. Printing 'sweatshop' on our shoes would have been damaging to the reputation of Nike and is not a fair reflection of the manufacturing compliance standards we set and strive to achieve.

While we accept that there is always more we can do to improve labor conditions in the partner factories we work with, we take issue with the expression Jonah Perretti wished to use. We have made major steps towards ensuring fair conditions in the factories we sub-contract - for example, increasing minimum qualifications for footwear workers to 18 years of age. And while we know that we have not solved all the problems that may exist in our network of over 750 partner factories around the world, we will continue to find ways of doing so. Further information about our manufacturing compliance standards can be seen at www.nikebiz.com."

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