Soccer shoes produced in the small Bosnian towns of Derventa and Prnjavor were already worn by David Beckham, and now they are to be worn by referees at the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Russia.
The 351 pairs of top quality sneakers, with kangaroo leather, golden threads and with the logo of the FIFA World Cup, are being produced by women working in the ‘Sanino’ factory.
“This Copa Mundiale product is being made for 30 years already, our company has already delivered more than 12 million pairs of sneakers to ‘Adidas’. It is a special series, unique, which Adidas itself will probably not manufacture,” director of Sanino, Radovan Pazurevic, told N1.
Most people are not aware of the fact that these sneakers are being produced in a factory in Prnjavor. Apart from sports shoes, the factory also produces fashionable footwear.
Sanino employs some 900 people in Prnjavor and Derventa, who produce nearly 1.8 million pairs of footwear for export annually.
“We have 200 people working per shift, everyone knows what to do and we are functioning very well,” manager Sladjana Milic said.
World renown brands in general find that the Balkans are an attractive place for production because of the cheap labour, but sports shoes are being produced in Asian countries more and more, as their workforce is even cheaper.
The average salary in this industry in Republika Srpska (RS), Bosnia’s Serb-dominated semi-autonomous entity, is 500 BAM, and is in line with the salaries in Sanino. Those working in the factory are mostly women, and they say they are happy they have a job.
“I am an educated salesperson. After I completed school I needed whatever job I could get. This was the quickest option, they employed me here first, the salaries are satisfactory, and you get as much as you produce,” one of the workers, Nevena Ivanovic, said, explaining that workers have quotas they have to meet.
The company exported goods worth nearly 20 million BAM in 2017, and had a positive influence in the footwear production industry in Bosnia, which is the fifth largest footwear exporter in Europe.
