Yes but do they earn enough to go on holiday?

I need new shoes.  I would like to buy myself some shoes that I could feel good about wearing but unfortunately I can't feel good about these shoes for two reasons.  The first is that they are gym shoes and nobody needs to feel good about new gym shoes.  It's kind of like getting a new iron, it's new and all and there's something exciting for that brief moment you get something new (damn material conditioning) but I don't think I will be feeling good about these.  The second reason requires more explanation.  I am a fairly simple person with fairly simple requirements.  No big logos, comfortable fit, not too expensive (on account of me being an arts student and musician), and here's the kicker (get it) - ethically made.  What exactly is an ethically made gym shoe?  Can you even buy them and if so, can you buy them relatively cheaply?  My last pair of gym shoes were second hand given to me by an ex AFL footballer.  I kind of figured that if they were good enough for him to train in that they would do me for my fifty squats and general inept exercises on minimum weight setting on a Sunday morning at Fitzroy Gym.  But now I would like to get some new gym shoes.  I would like to have been the only one to have gotten slightly moist feet in them, I would like to feel that nice bouncy feeling of a new sneaker and I would like to smell that slightly rubbery smell as I pull the laces through my new shoes for the first time.  So back to the ethical shoe idea, what exactly constitutes ethical shoe construction?  Can you even buy athletics shoes made somewhere other than China?  So what would I settle for in my purchase of these shoes or what would I like to believe about the people that have made my soon to be new shoes?  I would like to believe first and foremost that the people who made my shoes weren't being threatened with violence to produce my shoes.  I would also like to think that the people making my shoes were all over eighteen and were there of their own free will.  I hope that they were able to take a lunch break and did not have to work more than a 12hr shift.  I hope that their jobs were rotated so that they did not get stuck performing the same task for said 12hr shift.  But is that it?  From the web research (open to scrutiny) the average factory worker's salary in China is $100 per month.  This is essentially a meaningless number until you take into account PPP or Purchasing Power Parity.  This concept compares what it would cost in one country to how much money you would need in the USA to buy the equivalent amount of goods.  Advocates of cheap Chinese labour will tell you that PPP in China enables the average Chinese worker on $100 p/m to afford as much food and basic essential items as a worker on $2000 p/m in the USA.  While PPP has merits as a measurement of purchasing power if all you are purchasing is food, it has little merit when you are trying to establish whether Chinese workers can afford luxury items.  Electronic devices are generally a little cheaper in China, some European made goods such as clothing and department store goods are more expensive and some things are about the same as they are in Australia.  For example you can get a plane ticket for many destinations in South East Asia for approximately $800AUD return, about the same as you would pay for a short holiday somewhere from Australia.  This is where simply looking at PPP in terms of food fails as a fair measure of quality of life and ability to buy non essential items.  If you consider that $800 is eight months wages for your average Chinese manufacturing worker it doesn't look so good when compared to the USA wage of $2000 p/m.  If a ticket for a small break somewhere close to home (but international) cost $16,000 then we might view PPP a little differently.  So my point is that while we might argue that the workers in manufacturing industries in China are paid fairly, PPP is an inadequate measure when it comes to luxury goods and access to non essential goods.  They might earn enough to eat well, pay rent and pay utility bills but perhaps we should be asking another question............................... Do they earn enough to go on holiday?