Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region

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Apparel and Textile Industry

Virtually the entire apparel and footwear industry is tainted by Uyghur forced labour.

Updated July 2025

Researchers in 2022 found that the Uyghur Region accounted for 23% of the world’s cotton output. China is also the world’s largest exporter of cotton yarn, fabric, and garments, some of which are produced in facilities in the Uyghur Region and elsewhere in China that use the forced labor of Uyghurs. Uyghurs are also forcibly transferred from the Uyghur Region to work in factories, including in apparel and textile manufacturing, in wider China. Potentially tainted yarn and fabric are also exported from China to other garment manufacturing countries all around the world, where it is used by factories to make clothes and other textile products. This means that 1 in 5 cotton garments in the global apparel market are at risk of being tainted with Uyghur forced labour, which creates a significant risk of regulatory and ethical violations by the fashion industry.

Regulatory developments have made the demands of the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region a legal requirement. In 2022, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) came into force, which establishes a rebuttable presumption that the importation of any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly, or in part, in the Uyghur Region, or produced by certain entities implicated in forced labour, is prohibited by Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and not entitled to entry to the United States. The UFLPA, in effect, codifies into law the central elements of the Coalition’s Call to Action. 

The European Union’s Forced Labour Regulation will prevent the trade of goods made with forced labour and covers both the import of goods and the trade of goods within and from the EU bloc. In the UK, the Court of Appeal ruled that companies that knowingly or with suspicion import goods made under criminal circumstances—such as through Uyghur forced labour—can now be prosecuted under the Proceeds of Crime Act for trading criminal property.  

Only by taking the actions enumerated in the Call to Action can companies act responsibly and prevent their supply chains from being linked to the forced labour of Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim-majority peoples.

Read the Call to Action

 

The Coalition is demanding that companies, including those without a US market: 

  • Commit to apply a single global standard, aligned with the legal requirements set forth in the UFLPA, to exclude Uyghur forced labour across its supply chains, and not to bifurcate its supply chains where one supply chain is tainted by Uyghur forced labour and one is compliant with the UFLPA and free of Uyghur forced labour.
  • Commit to not re-exporting goods detained under the auspices of the UFLPA to other markets and attempt to sell those goods in other markets.

 

Public signatories to the Call to Action as of March 2022:

  • ASOS plc
  • EILEEN FISHER
  • Marks and Spencer Group plc
  • New Look
  • OVS S.p.A
  • Reformation
  • Seasalt Cornwall
  • TFG Limited (Hobbs, Phase Eight, Whistles)
  • WE Fashion

The Coalition equally calls on all companies, including those without a US market, to apply a single global standard, in line with the Coalition’s Brand commitment to exit the Uyghur Region and prevent the use of forced labour of Uyghur and other Turkic and Muslim-majority peoples / UFLPA, which includes a commitment to not bifurcate their supply chains. This demand is made in consideration of existing and forthcoming laws in other jurisdictions, particularly the EU and EU Member States, and to raise business standards globally.

[1] Data sourced from the Jewish World Watch Uyghur Forced Labor Database (accessed July 2022) and the Reports page of the Coalition website.

For apparel companies wishing to speak with the Coalition, please email [email protected].

 

Key Resources

In September 2022, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre sought responses to the four above questions from these companies. Of the thirty-three companies, only sixteen (48%) responded. The Coalition will be following up with these companies about their actions to remove Uyghur forced labour across their supply chain. The American Apparel and Footwear Association was not sent a letter, but sent a response to BHRRC. See all company responses here.

  • Adidas (response)
  • Amazon (no response)
  • Burberry (no response)
  • Capri Holdings (Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Versace) (no response)
  • Costco (no response)
  • Esprit (response)
  • Fast Retailing Co Ltd (Uniqlo, Theory) (response)
  • G-III Apparel Group (DKNY) (response)
  • Gap Inc. (Athleta, Banana Republic, GAP) (response)
  • Guess (no response)
  • H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M, & Other Stories) (no response)
  • Hanes (no response)
  • Hermes (no response)
  • Ikea (response)
  • Inditex (Industria de Diseño Textil, S.A.) (Bershka, Zara, Inditex, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Zara Home) (response)
  • Kering (Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Bottega Venetta, Brioni, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent) (response)
  • Kontoor Brands, Inc. (Lee, Rock & Republic, Wrangler) (response)
  • Levi’s (response)
  • Lululemon (response)
  • LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (Celine, Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton) (response)
  • Macy’s (response)
  • MF Brands Group SA (Aigle, Lacoste) (no response)
  • Muji (no response)
  • Next (response)
  • Nike (Converse) (no response)
  • PVH Corp. (Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein) (no response)
  • Ralph Lauren (no response)
  • SMCP S.A. (Maje, Sandro) (response)
  • Sycamore Partners (Ann Taylor, Loft) (no response sought)
  • Tapestry Inc. (Coach, Kate Spade, Stuart Weitzman) (no response)
  • Urban Outfitters, Inc. (Anthropologie, Free People) (no response)
  • VF Corporation (JanSport, Kipling, The North Face, Timberland, Vans) (response)
  • Walmart (no response)

 

Photo by No Revisions on Unsplash