The initiative of this sneaker brand is unique worldwide.
Ethletic is now allowing its customers to tip the employees in Pakistan globally.
After three years of preparation with tip me – a small Berlin visionary company – the thank you can be sent around the world with just one click in the online shop.
Ethletic introduces the first tip for producers in the textile industry worldwide.
What do we think of when we tip? To the waitress in the café, for example, we round up the bill for our drink. To the hairdresser, whom we give something extra for the great haircut. Or to the craftsman who deserves a prize for particularly good work. Tipping is our expression of personal appreciation, a voluntary thank you for the work of other people – and this is now also possible in the production of consumer goods.
Tip me then transfers the tip directly to Pakistan via Mobile Money – an electronic form of payment for mobile devices – where the money is distributed equally to the SIM cards of the employees. You can then have the cash paid out at any time at a kiosk or a local bank.
All tips collected are divided fairly using a distribution key. For this purpose, all employees were individually registered with their cell phone numbers, ID cards and social security numbers for the tip-me program in Pakistan. Ethletic boss Marc Solterbeck and the Berlin Tip-Me team had traveled to the shoe factory in Sialkot in Pakistan in autumn 2019 to check the establishment of the global tip on site – and when registering all 70 Ethletic employees to be.
Now everyone is excited to see how this idea is accepted by consumers. “Our goal is to expand the tip option across our entire supply chain, right down to the cotton farmers in the field,” says Solterbeck.
Because: With tips, wages in developing and emerging countries can be voluntarily increased by up to 100 percent, which not only helps people there to a better standard of living, but also gives them a better view of the future and education of their children. “It’s great to be able to intervene directly in the disadvantage of people in the production countries”, the makers are convinced. With an average daily wage of 5 euros, a tip will double the daily wages for an employee and his family. Direct and uncomplicated – and best of all: there are no losses due to fees or other operating costs that are otherwise incurred by NGOs.
“The idea of giving and taking in development work is no longer the only option in a digitized world,” says Tip-Me initiator Jonathan Funke. “By using digital media, it is now possible to get customers and producers closer. You also no longer need huge administrative apparatuses that consume tons of money and only allow a portion of the donations to go where they are needed. ”At tip me, 100 percent of the tip given is paid to employees because the partner companies benefit from the positive marketing benefit and bear the additional costs of the project through this benefit.”
In short: With the global tip we can consume sustainably and do something good at the same time. Helping people, living appreciation and expressing gratitude – straightforward and honest.
Isn’t that great?
