Shein’s ‘evasive’ performance triggers fresh fury from campaigners
Human rights groups have launched fresh attacks on the fast fashion firm Shein after a representative of the firm repeatedly dodged questions from MPs over where it sourced materials for its clothing.
During a Business and Trade Select Committee hearing on Tuesday, Shein’s London-based general counsel for EMEA, Yinan Zhu, repeatedly failed to give a direct answer on whether Shein uses any Chinese cotton in its products.
Zhu requested to write to the committee with answers after the session.
The chair of the committee, Liam Byrne, said her behaviour “bordered on contempt” and Charlie Maynard, the Liberal Democrat MP for Witney, described her as “blanketly void of answers”.
While the Chinese-founded retailer has faced criticism for years from campaign groups over labour practices in its supply chain, Zhu’s performance in front of MPs triggered a new barrage of attacks today.
“Shein’s stonewalling of the Select Committee is indicative of a company that views itself as beyond scrutiny and accountability,” said Peter Frankental, Amnesty International UK’s Business and Human Rights Director.
“By allowing Shein to list, the UK Government would be giving the company a defacto stamp of approval, rewarding shameful practices and sending a message that supply chain standards are optional,” Frankental said.
Human right activist Luke de Pulford tweeted that Shein’s performance during the session was “appalling”, and called on UK customers to “take note” and stop buying clothes from the fast-fashion retailer.
Rahima Mahmut, executive director of human rights group Stop Uyghur Genocide, said: “The potential listing of Shein on the London Stock Exchange represents a blatant and alarming mockery of our Modern Slavery Act.
“Permitting Shein to list would send a dangerous and unacceptable message that profit takes precedence over human rights.”
Earlier this week, human rights group Stop Uyghur Genocide (SUG) said it had presented Shein with a dossier of evidence linking the company’s products to cotton from Xinjiang, where the Uyghur minority has allegedly faced persecution from the Chinese government.
A report from the advocacy group Public Eye in 2021 first sounded the alarm on conditions in its supply chain after finding that workers at six Shein suppliers were subject to punishing 75 hour weeks in factories with blocked corridors and stairways.
In response, Shein said it has built an in-house team to monitor supply-chain partners. Last August, the group admitted that it found two cases of child labour in its factories.
Mahmut added: “[Shein’s] evasiveness only deepens concerns about potential links to forced labour and exploitation of Uyghurs. Yinan Zhu’s responses, or lack thereof, to even the simplest questions from MPs made it abundantly clear that transparency and accountability are not priorities for Shein.”
She called on the FCA to block Shein’s potential listing “until the company can demonstrate full compliance with ethical and human rights standards”.
CityAM has contacted Shein for comment.