Marks and Spencer has signed up to the Call for Action which urges brands to cease buying cotton produced in the Xinjiang cotton growing region of Chinaa amidst concerns that Uighur people are being exploited as forced labour. This follows a report from the US Center for Global Policy which found that upward of 500,000 Uighur people have been forced to pick cotton by hand as part of a crackdown by the Chinese government against them which has seen people detained and held in re-education camps.
There is a growing movement to boycott products produced in such questionable circumstances by brands and this is being further driven by consumer sentiment.
M&S has issued a statement in which it says that 100 per cent of the cotton used for M&S clothing was sustainably sourced and that it was already one of the few retailers that does not work with any supplier in or that sources from Xinjiang.
In a recent media interview, Charles Tyrwhitt founder Nick Wheeler commented that CT Shirts’ customers have been questioning where its products are made and where fabrics are sourced from. Other brands are being similarly challenged by customers who, it seems, are becoming far more interested in the provenance of what they are buying, brand ethics, and the human ‘cost’ that subsidises the products.
It is an area which many other businesses will be focusing on in the coming year.
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