Fast fashion retailer Shein found two cases child labour to its suppliers last year, it said in its 2023 sustainability report, as it increased checks on manufacturers in China to assuage criticism of its low-cost business model ahead of a planned IPO.
Shein stated in the report that suspended orders from suppliers who had employed children under the age of 16, taking products from them only after they had strengthened their verification procedures, including checking workers’ identity documents.
The company said both cases had been “quickly resolved”, with remedial measures including terminating the contracts of the underage workers, arranging medical examinations and facilitating repatriation to parents or guardians if necessary.
Previously, suppliers who employed minors had 30 days to resolve the issue or Shein would stop working with them.
Annabella Ing, Shein’s senior director of global government relations in Singapore, said the updated supply chain policy took into account feedback from regulators and suppliers.
The company had not previously reported the number of child labor cases, citing only the percentage of inspections that found minors in the workplace. This violation was found in 1.8% of supplier audits in 2021, 0.3% of audits in 2022 and 0.1% in 2023.
Shein, which has grown rapidly by selling $5 tops and $10 dresses online to shoppers around the world, said it had 3,990 checks in 2023, up from 2,812 in 2022 and 664 in 2021.
Shein ships products directly from its suppliers in China to its customers by air, and its emissions from transporting the products more than doubled to 6.35 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2023, the report showed. The company has a total of 5,800 contracted suppliers, most of which are located in China’s Guangdong Province.
It has started sourcing some products from suppliers closer to its consumers, in Turkey and Brazil, which it said will help it reduce transport emissions. It said it saved 49,578 tonnes of CO2 equivalent last year by switching from air to sea and land transport to transport these products.
Source: ot.gr
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