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Abstract

In January 2021, the Japanese fashion company Uniqlo was accused of using forced labour in its supply chains. Various news reports had been claiming that Uyghur Muslims were being detained and forced to work on cotton farms, production factories, and processing facilities in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The United States Customs and Border Protection claimed that Uniqlo was not able to fully demonstrate that its products and inputs were manufactured without use of forced labour or modern slavery in Xinjiang, China and issued a Withhold Release Order to detain Uniqlo's shipment of cotton garments. Uniqlo's attempts to dispute the allegations and overturn the WRO were unsuccessful. The company had to find a way to ensure transparency and uphold traceability across all streams of its value chain activity. But how could Uniqlo ensure ethical sourcing for all aspects of its products, given limited oversight over suppliers and subcontractors? Was cotton traceability a viable and feasible option? How could Uniqlo ensure the compliance all key actors in its value chain streams, across tiers of suppliers and layers of subcontractors?

Teaching and learning

This item is suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Locations:
Industry:
Size:
Large
Other setting(s):
2021

About

Abstract

In January 2021, the Japanese fashion company Uniqlo was accused of using forced labour in its supply chains. Various news reports had been claiming that Uyghur Muslims were being detained and forced to work on cotton farms, production factories, and processing facilities in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The United States Customs and Border Protection claimed that Uniqlo was not able to fully demonstrate that its products and inputs were manufactured without use of forced labour or modern slavery in Xinjiang, China and issued a Withhold Release Order to detain Uniqlo's shipment of cotton garments. Uniqlo's attempts to dispute the allegations and overturn the WRO were unsuccessful. The company had to find a way to ensure transparency and uphold traceability across all streams of its value chain activity. But how could Uniqlo ensure ethical sourcing for all aspects of its products, given limited oversight over suppliers and subcontractors? Was cotton traceability a viable and feasible option? How could Uniqlo ensure the compliance all key actors in its value chain streams, across tiers of suppliers and layers of subcontractors?

Teaching and learning

This item is suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Settings

Locations:
Industry:
Size:
Large
Other setting(s):
2021

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