BBC Sport: Workers in Cambodia paid under £1 an hour to make official football shirts
BBC Sport revealed on 8 October 2026 that workers at two factories in Cambodia were being paid a basic wage of less than £1 an hour to produce official replica shirts for clubs including Arsenal, Celtic, Liverpool and Real Madrid. The investigation traced authentic replica shirts to Bowker Garment Factory and Trax Apparel and obtained images of kits being made while employees described working conditions as "grim".
The reporting followed the supply chain behind official shirts amid fan frustration over rising prices and growing purchases of cheaper counterfeits. Photographs from inside Bowker and Trax show kits bearing club insignia beneath an Adidas logo; workers interviewed anonymously and supported by documentary evidence said they were expected to complete up to 700 items a day. Workers reported verbal abuse when targets were missed and raised safety concerns about electrical equipment.
Five payslips seen by the BBC show basic monthly salaries of $210-$220 (£158-£166), with three indicating total monthly earnings of about $300 (£226) after overtime and allowances, though extra hours were common. Staff typically work six eight-hour shifts a week, and a Bowker worker said, "It's hard to live with this amount." A Trax worker said, "I want international customers to hear that one shirt they buy costs more than two weeks' salary for a worker," adding, "Every one of these shirts contains the sweat of Cambodian workers." Trax told BBC Sport its average monthly employee earnings range from $305-$342 (£230-£258) this year.
Adidas confirmed it does not own either factory but described both as primary suppliers subject to its workplace standards and said: "We have taken a variety of measures to ensure fair and safe working conditions for workers across our supply chain for more than 25 years." The company added: "Through around 1,200 factory audits per year, we review and evaluate supplier conduct, work with suppliers to address issues and make improvements where necessary." Adidas also said average net wages across a sample of its Cambodian suppliers were 34% above the Anker Research Institute's living-wage benchmark, adding staff were "usually paid considerably higher than the local minimum wage." Bowker did not respond to a request for comment; Trax acknowledged "periods of elevated temperature" but said cooling systems were in place and insisted its approach "is not based on enforcing output targets."
Conditions recorded inside Bowker included a thermometer reading 35.2C and humidity of 57.6%, and an employee on the ironing line said, "The heat stress is really taking a toll on our health." Workers described being pressured to meet group production targets of between 300 and 700 items a day and questioned the distribution of retail income: "Just think about that," they said. "If one shirt sells for $120 (£90) in the store, how much are they pulling in from 600 of them? They make a ton of money but give almost nothing to the workers." One Bowker employee said: "When we can't complete the quota they scold and yell at us and tell us to resign," and the same worker described receiving two electric shocks from an exposed wire, adding, "I tried to report it multiple times, but they only took action after the second time I got shocked."
The report noted Bowker Garment Factory is in Kandal Province and described fan reactions to rising kit prices during an August Bank Holiday meeting between Aston Villa and Arsenal, with tens of thousands at Villa Park wearing shirts made in Cambodia. An Arsenal fan told BBC Sport the latest home design was released in May but was photographed inside Trax months earlier; a Villa supporter said: "You buy your season ticket. Three shirts, that's around £300 on top. It's ridiculous." An Arsenal fan added: "I've got young kids now and I've started getting them kits, so it's started getting expensive," and said, "They're not cheap if you get the official ones." Research cited in the report suggested that of a typical £85 shirt £8.50 covers fabric, sewing and shipping, £37.45 goes to the retailer, £16.25 to the manufacturer, £9.50 on marketing and £13.60 in VAT, and that the average price of an adult replica Premier League shirt has risen by 50.7% over the past decade, fuelling demand for counterfeits sold for as little as £12.
Police warned counterfeit shirts can be "manufactured without regard for safety standards or workers' rights" and Trading Standards warned that "counterfeiters have no morals and no standards." The Premier League expects clubs to carry out appropriate due diligence on their kit manufacturers and supply chains, and none of the clubs named in the article responded to BBC Sport's request for comment. Anna Bryher of Labour Behind the Label said: "Respect has got to be a baseline in sport. Clubs need to send a really strong message that they won't put their name on a shirt if workers are not treated with respect."
