RETAIL ENVIRONMENT
Fashion brands review cotton links to China
Global fashion retailers are facing scrutiny over due diligence in their supply chains as claims of forced labour involving persecuted minorities picking cotton in Xinjiang, a Chinese region plagued by allegations of human rights abuses, continue to circulate.
China is one of the world's top cotton producers and most of its crop is grown in Xinjiang and many brands are thought to indirectly source cotton products from the region in China's far west.
High street brands are now reviewing their sourcing strategies in light of the human rights group’s claims that half a million Uyghur people living in the region’s detention camps are being compelled to pick cotton for the global market.
Japanese retailers Muji and Uniqlo attracted attention recently after a report highlighted the brands used the Xinjiang-origin of their cotton as a selling point in advertisements.
H&M, Espirit and adidas are among the firms said to be at the end of the supply chain involving cotton products from Xinjiang, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation.
"You can't be sure that you don't have coerced labour in your supply chain if you do cotton business in China," said Nathan Ruser, researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
"Xinjiang labour and what is almost certainly coerced labour is very deeply entrenched into the supply chain that exists in Xinjiang," he said.
Rights groups also say people in camps are made to learn Mandarin Chinese, swear loyalty to President Xi Jinping, and criticise or renounce their faith.
China says those people are attending "vocational training centres" which are giving them jobs and helping them integrate into Chinese society, in the name of preventing terrorism.
China produces about 22 per cent of global cotton supplies, according to a report by the Centre for Strategic and International studies (CSIS). Last year, 84 per cent of Chinese cotton came from Xinjiang, the report said.
That has raised concerns over whether forced labour has been used in the production of cotton from the region.
Nury Turkel, chairman of the Uighur Human Rights Project in Washington, said the Uighurs were being "detained and tormented" and "swept into a vast system of forced labour" in Xinjiang.
"Rather, the products may go through several stages of transformation after leaving Xinjiang before they are sent to large Western brands," she said.
Muji launched a new Xinjiang Cotton collection earlier this year and in one of its advertisements said ‘soft and breathable’ men’s shirts made from organic cotton delicately and wholly hand-picked in Xinjiang'.
Another Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo had also touted the Xinjiang region in an advertisement where the fine print read that the shirts were made from Xinjiang cotton, "famous for its superb quality".
That reference was later removed ‘given the complexity of the issue', according to a spokesman for Uniqlo.
"Uniqlo does not have any production partners located in the Xinjiang region. Moreover, Uniqlo production partners must commit to our strict company code of conduct.
"To the best of our knowledge, this means our cotton comes only from ethical sources," the spokesperson told the BBC.
Many of the companies looked into the allegations, including those without clear links to the Huafu mill.
In a statement to the BBC, adidas said: "While we do not have a contractual relationship with Huafu Fashion Co., or any direct leverage with this business entity or its subsidiary, we are currently investigating these claims."
"We advised our material suppliers to place no orders with Huafu until we have completed those investigations," the adidas spokesperson said.
Esprit, which also does not source cotton directly from Xinjiang, said it had made several inquiries earlier this year.
"We concluded that a very small amount of cotton from a Huafu factory in Xinjiang was used in a limited number of Esprit garments," the firm said in a statement.
The company has instructed all suppliers to not source Huafu yarn from Aksu, the statement said.
H&M said it does not have "a direct or indirect business relationship" with any garment manufacturer in the Xinjiang region.
"We have an indirect business relationship with Huafu's spinning unit in Shanyu, which is not located in the Xinjiang region, and according to our data, the vast majority of the yarn used for our garment manufacturing comes from this spinning unit," a spokesperson for H&M said.
"Since we have an indirect business relationship with the yarn supplier Huafu, we also asked for access to their spinning facilities in Aksu. Our investigations showed no evidence of forced labour."
