Shein studies two little one labour circumstances in 2024 because it elevated provider audits

By
Reuters

Revealed

February 26, 2025

Quick-fashion retailer Shein discovered two circumstances of kid labour at its suppliers final yr, the identical quantity as in 2023, following extra audits of its largely China-based third-party producers, the corporate advised British lawmakers in a letter.

Reuters

The disclosure by Shein, which is planning an preliminary public providing in London, was in a February 7 response to questions from a British parliamentary committee. It was written by Yinan Zhu, Shein’s common counsel for Europe, Center East and Africa, and revealed late Tuesday.

Shein has confronted allegations of employee abuses in its provide chain, and the cross-party Enterprise and Commerce Committee questioned Zhu in particular person in January, following up with letters asking for extra data.

Within the letter, Zhu stated one of many incidents concerned a toddler aged 11 years and eight months, whom the audit discovered frolicked throughout the summer time vacation at a manufacturing unit the place her father was the overall supervisor and her mom labored, and “helped with tasks”.

“Nonetheless, and irrespective of these details, we took the issue extremely seriously, including designating the incident as child labour and immediately terminating our relationship with the supplier,” Zhu stated within the letter.

The second case was 15 years and three months. Zhu additionally gave the ages of the kids Shein beforehand stated it discovered working at suppliers in 2023 as 15 years and 11 months, and 15 years and 9 months.

Shein performed round 4,300 audits in 2024, overlaying about 317,000 employees, up from 4,000 audits in 2023 overlaying 285,000 employees, in line with the letter.

“We take a strict zero tolerance approach to child labour,” Zhu wrote. “We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that these isolated cases are removed from our supply chain entirely in future, bringing our network of third-party suppliers globally, including in China, Brazil and Turkey, along with us.”