Marks & Spencer has signed up to the Call to action campaign which aims to spearhead change in China’s Xinjiang region where Uighur people have been exploited as forced labour to pick cotton by hand. More than eighty per cent of China’s cotton is grown in the region, equating to some 20 per cent of global cotton production.
The retailer says that the Call to Action campaign aligns with its focus on ensuring that its supply chains are both sustainable and ethical, with workers treated fairly and human rights respected. It is, it says, one of few retailers that will not work with any supplier operating in or sourcing from Xinjiang.
“100 per cent of the cotton in our clothing is more sustainable sourced – from the Better Cotton Initiative material used in our Good Move gym leggings to the organic cotton in our baby clothes,” said Richard Price, M&S Clothing & Home managing director. “When it comes to sustainable and ethical clothing, we can only achieve real change at scale by working with others, which is why we are proud to be formally supporting the coalition and providing assurance to its consumers that M&S product will not be linked to the abuses of Uighurs.”
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