Jon Henley: “France investigates fast fashion brands over forced Uyghur labour claims”
The Guardian, Friday 2nd July 2021.
The opening of an investigation by the French authorities into the exploitation of Uyghur Muslims in China has revealed links between a number of European and Global clothing giants and the use of forced labour of the Uyghur minority.
It is becoming evident that numerous retailers have subcontracted labour in the Xinjiang region where it is alleged that forced labour of the Uyghur minority is taking place. China denies all allegations of abuse in the region.
While such retailers publicly condemn unethical labour practices and pledge themselves to sustainable retail and production practices, so far none of these brands have committed to withdrawing from the region or offered any transparency on their supply chain. This exposes an enormous issue with sustainability in retail practices - should a company be able to voluntarily claim that they are making efforts to be lower impact while engaging in highly unethical and exhaustible production practices? Ethical treatment of workers plays a key part in the sustainability of material production and distribution chains. If companies cannot commit to this and follow through on it, how sustainable can they really be?
You can read more about the investigation here: