Greenpeace volunteers do the Detox Dance outside giant Adidas store, Beijing

Would you take your clothes off and dance in public for a cause? Well more than 600 brave people did just that today, outside Adidas and Nike highstreet stores in 29 cities in 10 countries--to challenge the sportswear leaders to eliminate hazardous chemical releases from their supply chain and products.

At exactly 11:00am Central European Time in 29 cities around the globe, teams of dancers, including Greenpeace activists, supporters and Nike and Adidas fans who signed up online, simultaneously performed a choreographed striptease, taking off their clothes to reveal the message Detox.

Switzerland -- Greenpeace volunteers surprise shoppers by performing a striptease outside the Nike store in central Basel

We'll add photos to this blog post as they come in. I must say now though that there will be some nudity. If that's not your thing but you'd like to help, please go here to sign the petition.

It's not every day you see lots of people dressed in sportswear outside a shop suddenly start dancing and then strip down to their underwear, or their birthday suit! For Nike and Adidas the message should be unmistakable though: When you strip back all the marketing hype, the naked truth is revealed - Adidas and Nike are playing on the same team as toxic polluters.

This action is part of our Detox campaign calling on Adidas and Nike to eliminate all releases of hazardous chemicals from across their entire supply chain and products. A year-long Greenpeace investigation into toxic water pollution in China found links between a number of major clothing brands, including Adidas and Nike, and suppliers in China who were found to be discharging persistent and bioaccumulative hormone disruptors into Chinese rivers.

The findings from the research provide a snapshot of the kind of toxic chemicals that are being released by the textile industry into waterways all over the world, and are indicative of a much wider problem that is having serious and far-reaching consequences for people and wildlife.

As industry frontrunners, major sportswear brands have a responsibility to show leadership and clean up their acts. Adidas and Nike talk a good game, but they must show some real champion pedigree on the field and lead the textile industry towards a world free from toxic water pollution. The ball is now in their court.

 

Today's striptease may make it into the Guinness Book of Records as the largest striptease ever. It included people in Austria (Vienna), China (Beijing), the Czech Republic (Prague), France (Paris), all over Germany (Regensburg, Kassel, Niederrhein, Berlin, Frankfurt/Main, Köln, Chiemgau, Bremerhaven, Leipzig, Deggendorf, Freiburg, Hamburg, Zollernalbkreis, Kiel, Lüneburg, Krefeld, Aachen, Esslingen, Oldenburg, Hannover, Essen and Lübeck), the Netherlands (Amsterdam), the Philippines (Manila), Spain (Madrid), Switzerland (Basel) and Thailand (Bangkok).

Stripping off outside the Nike store in Amsterdam

(Top photo - outside Adidas store in Beijing, China. Middle photo - outside Nike store in Basel, Switzerland. Bottom photo - outside Nike store in Amsterdam, Netherlands. More on our Flickr page.)