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Shein exposes child labour cases as it steps up supplier audits

Fast fashion seller Shein discovered two cases of child labour at its providers last year, it stated in its 2023 sustainability report, as it stepped up audits of manufacturers in China to lighten criticisms of its lowcost service design ahead of a planned flotation.

Shein stated in the report on Thursday it had suspended orders from the suppliers that had used children under 16, sourcing from them once again just after they had actually enhanced their procedures, consisting of examining employees' identity documents.

The business stated both cases had actually been resolved swiftly, with removal actions consisting of ending underage employees' agreements, arranging medical examinations, and assisting in repatriation to moms and dads or guardians as required.

Shein tightened its provider policy last October after the child labour cases were discovered, so that any serious breaches - called Immediate Termination Violations - would lead to ending the relationship with the provider right away.

Formerly, suppliers such as those that used minors had Thirty days to fix the issue, failing which Shein would cut ties.

Annabella Ng, senior director of global federal government relations at Shein in Singapore, stated the updated supply chain policy took into account feedback from regulators and suppliers.

The company had not previously reported the number of cases of kid labour, mentioning only the percentage of audits that found minors in the work environment. That violation was discovered in 1.8% of provider audits in 2021, 0.3% of audits in 2022, and 0.1% in 2023.

We remain vigilant in guarding against such infractions going forward, and in line with present policies, will terminate any noncompliant suppliers, Shein stated in the report.

Shein, which has actually proliferated offering $5 tops and $10. dresses online to shoppers all over the world, said 3,990 audits. were performed in 2023, up from 2,812 in 2022 and 664 in 2021.

It used Bureau Veritas, Intertek, Openview, SGS, Tuv. Rheinland and QIMA for 92% of its audits last year, and stated it. aims for 100% of audits to be done by such third-party companies.

Overall the audit results Shein published showed fewer. serious offenses than last year.

EMISSIONS SURGE

Shein's 2023 sustainability report, published more than a. year after the 2022 report, will be pored over by financiers. weighing whether to purchase shares in the merchant if and when it. lists. The group declared a going public in London. in early June.

In an initial note, Shein CEO Sky Xu said improving. Shein's supply chain governance and handling its carbon. footprint, particularly indirect scope 3 emissions, were. important areas for the business.

Shein sends out products straight from providers in China to. clients by air, and its emissions from carrying products. more than doubled in 2023 to 6.35 million tonnes of carbon. dioxide equivalent, the report showed.

The company has 5,800 agreement makers in total, with. most situated in China's Guangdong province.

It has started sourcing some products from suppliers better. to its customers, in Turkey and Brazil, which it stated would help. it cut transport emissions. It stated it had saved 49,578 tonnes. of CO2 equivalent in 2015 by changing from air to sea and. land freight to carry those items.

Shein stated it submitted emissions reduction objectives in June. this year to the Science-Based Targets Effort, the leading. global arbiter of how business set environment targets, and is. going through the recognition process.

It likewise said it had established a board-level sustainability. committee in July in 2015, comprising its CEO, executive. chairman and three representatives of financiers - HongShan. partner Jiajia Zou, Global Head of ESG at General Atlantic. Cornelia Gomez, and Brookfield Development Managing Partner Josh. Raffaelli.

Asked whether Shein had produced the committee to reinforce its. governance because of the upcoming flotation, Ng said she could. not comment on any IPO-related questions.

However absolutely we have actually been looking at improving our. governance structures as part of our total ESG journey towards. more openness and accountability, she stated.

(source: Reuters)