Don't think I'm gonna let Sub Pop off the hook for doing business with Nike!

Nike has a long history of child and slave labor violations and currently uses sweatshops to manufacture its shoes. Why exactly would a record label like Sub Pop with a history of supporting fairly worthwhile organizations (The Vera Project, Northwest Film Forum, Hollow Earth Radio) want to do business with Nike? Nike under tremendous pressure from activists for decades finally gave in and stopped most of it's child labor practices--and crazy, when it got more ethical, sales went up! But the company still readily uses factories that abuse worker's rights and drastically underpays them, just one example: 20,000 Vietnamese workers in a Nike factory went on strike last year because they were only making $59 a month salaries. The sale of of pair of Nike's Sub Pop shoes can pay a factory worker's salary for 3 months!

What gives Sub Pop? Does the cool factor of having your own tennis shoes outweigh going into business with a corporation that seems to constantly violate worker's rights? Think again.

Sub Pop Nike sneaks!

$150 and disappearing quickly at RMK, it's the hot new Sub Pop sneakers made by Nike:


I dunno, these look like something the '80s Christian metal band Stryper would wear, they are butt ugly. And vaguely reminiscent of those Revelation shoes that Adidas did:


I'm having a hard time seeing yellow as a rock'n'roll color. What about black and red? Black and white? And I'm having an even harder time seeing what the design has to do with Sub Pop, Seattle or grunge. My feeling: the Iron Maiden Vans are way cooler and so much cheaper, if you want rock shoes, buy those. Or the Dickies Vans!