We already reported in the last issue on the statements made by Asics, Adidas, Nike, Shimano, Billabong and Icebreaker following the natural disasters that hit New Zealand on March 3 and the northern cost of Japan on March 11, triggering nuclear fall-out. Many other big players in the sporting goods industry have since pledged their support to help the people of Japan.
Mizuno USA and Mizuno Canada,have said that they will match employee contributions to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund of the American Red Cross. The two subsidiaries are also donating a large amount of footwear and apparel from their baseball, softball, running and golf lines to Japanese victims.
An American ski champion, Julia Mancuso, announced that she will donate half of her prize money from the World Ski Cup to the Japanese relief initiative. She called on her colleagues to do the same under www.skiershelpingjapan.com. Her sponsor, Marker Völkl, decided to match her donation.
In addition, top PGA Tour players and Major League Baseball ambassadors who are signed with Mizuno have autographed various sports equipment, which is on sale on eBay. All funds raised from these sales will go to the Red Cross relief fund. Mizuno Corporation has already donated about $370,00 0 to relief efforts at home in Japan, as well as 20,000 products including apparel and footwear.
The American company Cascade Designs has given mattresses, water reservoirs and dry storage bags to Operation USA, a group working with Japanese partners to help as many as 4,000 citizens in areas that the Japanese government and larger charitable agencies might overlook.
Deuter Sport of Germany, along with Belmart, is donating 1,600 sleeping bags to Deuter's Japanese distributor, Iwatani-Primus of Tokyo. The distributor will work with Japanese relief agencies to provide the sleeping bags where they are most needed.
Puma used its showroom in Osaka as a shelter for some of its Japanese employees. Japan is the company's second-largest market, but only one store was affected enough to be closed, in the northeastern part of the country. The rest of the stores were set to resume business as usual.
Nike announced plans to donate $1 million in addition to $250,000 worth of footwear and apparel to Japanese quake victims, with distribution help from the country's Defense Department for the merchandise and from Architecture for Humanity, a San Francisco charity, for the cash. Nike has contracts with 26 factories in Japan.
