Sheffield Hallam Paper Finds Uyghur Forced Labor Moving Into EU 'Without Restriction'

A "substantial volume" of apparel made with Uyghur forced labor is entering the EU without restriction, a new Sheffield Hallam University report said. The report, released Dec. 6, studied four Chinese suppliers and focused on how their products were getting into the EU. In all, 39 brands are "at high risk" for sourcing goods made with Uyghur forced labor, including Hugo Boss, Inditex and Skechers.

The paper recommended that the EU "conduct forensic due diligence" on any cotton, rayon/viscose, or PVC products to identify risk of forced labor in their supply chains. "As supply chains become increasingly opaque, it is essential that due diligence procedures strengthen and evolve," Sheffield Hallam said. The university also said that EU stakeholders should support the regulation to ban the import of products made with forced labor, support the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, support manifest transparency legislation, and support "multilateral information sharing of data regarding cargo that has been identified as having been made with forced labor."

Zhejiang Sunrise Garment Group, also known as Sunrise Manufacture Group Co., was among the Chinese suppliers highlighted in the report. CBP has previously stopped entries from Sunrise Group into the U.S. (see 2212270045). The paper said companies that work with Zhejiang Sunrise don't source from them directly, but work with Smart Shirts, a subsidiary in Vietnam.

In a response to Sheffield Hallam, Hugo Boss admitted it has a connection with Smart Shirts in Vietnam but the company has "already started moving away from the production of Smart Shirts Vietnam this year."

"As a part of a general revision of our supplier network, we are currently moving away from them within our second tier, but some deliveries continue into 2024 as in the before-mentioned case," Hugo Boss said.

Zhejiang Sunrise responded to Sheffield Hallam denying the allegations and threatening legal action. Smart Shirts also denied the allegations, threatened legal action, and asked to meet in person with the university before the publication of the report.

Another supplier was Beijing Guanghua, which was linked to Inditex and Skechers. Inditex responded to Sheffield Hallam saying that while they have had "purchase operations" with some of the four companies mentioned in the report, they are not "currently engaged" in a relationship with them, and that they won't be entering into a relationship with them in the future. Skechers denied being a customer of any of the four suppliers.

Inditex is currently under investigation by the Canadian government for its potential use of Uyghur forced labor (see 2311080036). Beijing Guanghua didn't immediately respond to our request for comment. Other companies that were mentioned were Ralph Lauren and Burberry. Both didn't immediately respond to our request for comment.