In the global economy's long shadow, the shirts worn by millions of football fans carry a hidden cost: the hands that stitch them together in Cambodian factories earn less than a pound an hour, while the finished garments sell for nearly a hundred pounds in European club shops. A BBC Sport investigation has placed two Phnom Penh factories — supplying kits for Arsenal, Liverpool, and Real Madrid — under scrutiny, revealing wages of £158 to £166 a month, sweltering heat, and verbal pressure that leaves workers little dignity alongside their meagre pay. The story is as old as industrial capitalis
Premier League shirt factories pay workers under £1 per hour, BBC investigation reveals
Workers endure heat stress above 35°C, verbal abuse when production targets are missed, electrical safety hazards, and struggle to afford basic living expenses on wages of £158-£166 monthly.
Every shirt contains the sweat of Cambodian workers
Mark
So the investigation found these two specific factories in Cambodia. How confident are we that these are actually making shirts for the clubs named?
Mimi
The BBC obtained photographs from inside both factories showing kits being made for Arsenal, Celtic, Liverpool, Real Madrid, and others. They also saw payslips and interviewed workers. The evidence is direct.
Luke
But I want to be clear: Adidas doesn't own these factories. They're suppliers. And Adidas says it audits them 1,200 times a year and that wages there are 34 percent above living-wage benchmarks. That's a real claim from them, even if workers are saying something different.
Mark
The wage figures—£158 to £166 a month—those are the basic salaries, right? Not the full picture?
Mimi
Correct. The BBC saw payslips showing basic monthly pay in that range. But three of those payslips showed total monthly earnings around £226 once overtime and allowances were included. So workers are working extra hours to reach that figure.
Luke
And that still might not be enough to live on in Phnom Penh. One worker said she had little left after rent, food, utilities. But we should note: Trax told the BBC its average monthly earnings range from £230 to £258 this year. So there's some variation between what workers report and what the factories claim.
Mark
The heat and the safety issues—how widespread are those?
Mimi
The BBC documented temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius on the production floor. Workers described heat stress affecting their health. One worker received two electric shocks from exposed wiring. But here's the thing: Adidas said no electrical-related accidents were found in Bowker's records, and Trax said cooling systems are in place.
Luke
Right. So we have worker testimony on one side and factory records on the other. An International Labour Organization report from 2024 found 69 percent of Cambodian factories had heat issues and 84 percent had worker protection problems, so this isn't isolated. But we can't say definitively what's happening at these two specific factories beyond what workers told the BBC.
Mark
What about the shirt prices? The investigation says they've risen 50.7 percent in a decade.
Mimi
That's documented. An adult replica Premier League shirt now costs around £95 on average, up significantly from a decade ago. Fans are frustrated—they're paying £300 for three shirts on top of season tickets.
Luke
But the economics are complicated. A former kit designer explained that retailers bear risk because they depend on team success, and brands are paying huge sums for club sponsorships. So the price increase isn't just greed; it reflects real cost pressures. That doesn't solve the worker wage problem, but it's worth understanding.
Mark
And the counterfeit shirts—how big is that market?
Mimi
The BBC notes that counterfeit shirts sell for as little as £12, often made in China. Rising official prices are driving fans toward fakes. Police warn they're made without regard for safety or workers' rights.
Luke
But we don't have numbers on how many counterfeits are sold or what percentage of the market they represent. It's a real trend the investigation identifies, but the scale is unclear.
The Pulse
- Workers in two Cambodian factories stitching shirts for some of the world's most celebrated football clubs earn between £158 and £166 a month — less than the retail price of a single shirt they produce.
- Production floors exceed 35°C, verbal abuse greets missed targets of up to 700 items a day, and exposed electrical wiring has already shocked at least one worker twice before management intervened.
- Adidas, which supplies eight Premier League clubs and lists both factories as primary suppliers, insists its audits and wage benchmarks place workers above living-wage thresholds — a claim workers' rights groups and payslips tell a different story about.
- Official shirt prices have risen 50.7% over the past decade, now regularly surpassing £95, pushing fans toward counterfeit alternatives sold for as little as £12 and produced with even less accountability.
- Clubs named in the investigation have not responded to comment requests, while campaigners warn that a brand placed on a shirt carries a moral obligation to every worker whose hands made it possible.
In the global economy's long shadow, the shirts worn by millions of football fans carry a hidden cost: the hands that stitch them together in Cambodian factories earn less than a pound an hour, while the finished garments sell for nearly a hundred pounds in European club shops. A BBC Sport investigation has placed two Phnom Penh factories — supplying kits for Arsenal, Liverpool, and Real Madrid — under scrutiny, revealing wages of £158 to £166 a month, sweltering heat, and verbal pressure that leaves workers little dignity alongside their meagre pay. The story is as old as industrial capitalism itself, yet it arrives now with fresh urgency, as shirt prices have climbed more than fifty percent in a decade and counterfeit markets quietly absorb the frustration of fans priced out of the official product. What hangs in the balance is not merely a supply chain audit, but a question about whose labour the beautiful game chooses to honour.
On an August bank holiday, tens of thousands of fans packed Villa Park in Arsenal and Aston Villa colours — shirts sewn six thousand miles away by workers in Cambodia earning less than a pound an hour. A BBC Sport investigation traced authentic replica kits for some of football's biggest clubs to two factories on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, where a combined workforce of nearly 6,600 people, mostly women, produce garments destined for club shops across Europe.
Payslips reviewed by the BBC show basic monthly wages of £158 to £166 — compliant with Cambodian law, but barely enough to cover rent, food, and utilities. One worker noted that a single shirt costs her more than two weeks' wages to produce, yet sells for around £90 in stores. Inside the factories, conditions compound the hardship: thermometers on the production floor read above 35°C, workers on ironing lines describe heat stress, and daily output targets of 300 to 700 items leave little margin for error. Missing quotas brings verbal reprimands and pressure to resign. One employee reported being electrically shocked twice from exposed wiring before management took action.
Adidas, which supplies eight Premier League clubs and names both factories as primary suppliers, says it conducts around 1,200 audits annually and that average wages at its Cambodian suppliers sit 34 percent above living-wage benchmarks. Trax Apparel acknowledged elevated temperatures but denied enforcing strict output targets. Bowker Garment Factory did not respond.
The economics of the shirt itself reveal a striking imbalance. Of an £85 shirt, roughly £8.50 covers materials and production; the rest flows to retailers, manufacturers, marketing, and tax. Over the past decade, average Premier League shirt prices have risen more than 50 percent, now often exceeding £95. That climb has quietly driven fans toward counterfeits — sold for as little as £12 — as families find the cost of outfitting themselves in official kits increasingly out of reach.
Campaigners argue that clubs bear responsibility for what their name endorses. "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," said Anna Bryher of Labour Behind the Label. None of the clubs named in the investigation responded to requests for comment — a silence that, for those who made the shirts, speaks volumes.
On an August bank holiday in England, tens of thousands of fans filled Villa Park to watch Arsenal and Aston Villa compete. Many wore shirts stitched together six thousand miles away in Cambodia, where the people who made them earn less than a pound an hour.
A BBC Sport investigation traced authentic replica kits for some of the world's biggest clubs—Arsenal, Liverpool, Celtic, Real Madrid—to two factories on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. At Bowker Garment Factory, about 3,400 workers, mostly women, sew, iron, and package shirts destined for club shops across Europe. Another 3,200 work ten miles east at Trax Apparel. According to payslips reviewed by the BBC, basic monthly salaries range from £158 to £166. Once overtime and allowances are factored in, some workers earn around £226 a month. These figures comply with Cambodia's minimum-wage laws, yet workers describe the struggle to cover rent, food, and utilities on such sums. One Trax employee put it plainly: a single shirt sells for roughly £90 in stores, yet costs her more than two weeks' wages to produce.
Inside the factories, conditions are described as grim. Photographs obtained by BBC Sport show thermometers reading above 35 degrees Celsius on the production floor. Workers on the ironing line report heat stress taking a physical toll. Production targets demand between 300 and 700 completed items per day—a relentless pace that leaves little room for error. When workers miss quotas, they describe being scolded and yelled at, told to resign if they cannot keep up. One employee reported receiving two electric shocks from exposed wiring and said management only acted after the second incident. The Clean Clothes Campaign, a global workers' rights network, called the findings a "very grim picture" of conditions that garment workers across the world face daily.
Adidas, which supplies eight of the twenty Premier League clubs, does not own either factory but lists both as primary suppliers subject to its workplace standards. The company said it conducts around 1,200 factory audits per year and has spent more than 25 years implementing measures to ensure fair and safe working conditions. It stated that average net wages at its Cambodian suppliers are 34 percent above living-wage benchmarks and that staff are "usually paid considerably higher than the local minimum wage." Bowker Garment Factory did not respond to requests for comment. Trax acknowledged periods of elevated temperature and said cooling systems are in place, though it denied enforcing strict output targets.
The economics of shirt pricing tell a complex story. Research suggests that of an £85 shirt, roughly £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. Over the past decade, the average price of an adult replica Premier League shirt has risen 50.7 percent, now often exceeding £95. Industry experts point to advances in technology and expensive kit deals with elite clubs as drivers of the increase. A former Puma and Umbro designer noted that retailers depend heavily on team success and bear significant risk, while brands must recover money spent on lucrative club sponsorships. Yet workers at the factories where these shirts are made see almost none of that margin.
The rising prices have had an unintended consequence: they are fueling demand for counterfeit shirts, sold for as little as £12 and often manufactured in China without regard for safety standards or workers' rights. Fans, frustrated by the cost of official kits, increasingly turn to fakes. One Aston Villa supporter described paying £95 for a single shirt, then facing another £200 or more to outfit his family. An Arsenal fan with young children said the expense of official kits has become prohibitive. The Premier League expects clubs to conduct due diligence on their kit manufacturers and supply chains, yet none of the clubs named in this investigation responded to requests for comment.
Anna Bryher from Labour Behind the Label, a UK campaign group, said respect must 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," she said. The gap between what fans pay and what workers earn remains stark: a shirt that costs a Cambodian factory worker two weeks' wages sells for £90 in a London club shop, where it sits on a shelf beneath a price tag that reflects everything except the hands that made it.
Notable Quotes
I want international customers to hear that one shirt they buy costs more than two weeks' salary for a worker— Trax Apparel worker
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— Anna Bryher, Labour Behind the Label
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