Online store|Shein says it has tightened its supply chain rules because of the incidents.
Chinese child labor has been found in the supply chain of the Shein online store that sells ultra-fast fashion, news agency Reuters reports.
Shein says in his report on sustainable development that there were two cases of child labor last year. The company stepped up its inspection visits in China to alleviate criticism of its low-cost business model before the planned listing on the stock exchange.
Reuters reported last year, based on its sources, that Shein planned to list on the New York Stock Exchange in 2024. So far, this has not happened yet.
Shein says in his report published on Thursday that he suspended orders from suppliers who employed children under the age of 16 until they improved their processes by, among other things, checking the employees’ identities.
The company also says that it resolved both cases quickly. It terminated the employment contracts of the underage workers, arranged medical examinations for them and returned the children to their guardians. Due to the incidents, Shein says that it has tightened its rules regarding supply chains.
The company has not previously reported the exact number of child labor cases found, but instead reported the percentage of inspections in which child labor has been detected in some form. In 2021, child labor was detected in 1.8 percent of inspection visits, in 2022 in 0.3 percent and in 2023 in 0.1 percent.
Shein is popular among Finns. In particular, it and another Chinese ultra-fast fashion store, Temu, have grown in popularity explosively in recent years.
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