It's no surprise that the individuals who actually make most of the world's footwear don't benefit much from the profits earned on said footwear. In fact, when you consider the pay of a footwear factory worker in China at $120 per month, thank you Washington Post, you don't need to do complex math to realize the workers aren't making off so well...

So where do all the profits go? Answer: Shipping, Duties, Taxes, Warehousing, Depreciation, Design, Brand Mark-up, Retailer Mark-up, etc. Not everyone who touches a pair of footwear in the supply chain gets rich, but most do better than $120 a month! (The sad part, after doing a bit more research, it turns out that the $120 a month is on the higher end for footwear worker pay, see this article citing Nike footwear factory pay - a little over $2 per day.)

Our plan at Common Soles isn't to build a factory that pays workers appropriate wages - we just don't have the capacity to do something on that level - yet! Our plan is to give back a healthy portion of the proceeds from selling footwear in North America and Europe to the communities these underpaid factory workers come from. Communities in China, Vietnam, India, and elsewhere. If we can help fund community improvement initiatives in these places the hope is that more individuals will have a higher quality of life. With that higher quality of life comes more choice in occupation and lifestyle. This is our hope, this is our dream.

Common Soles for the Common Good.