Category Archives: Shein

Planned Shein IPO needs closer scrutiny, says former Labour minister

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Trade committee head Liam Byrne wants checks on firm’s possible supply chain links to forced labour

A former minister has called on the government to closely scrutinise Shein for possible links to forced working as the China-founded fast-fashion retailer prepares for a stock market listing in London.

Liam Byrne, the Labour MP who heads parliament’s business and trade committee, said the UK should introduce new legislation to increase scrutiny of supply chains that may include products made in the Xinjiang region of north-western China.

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Fashion retailer Shein finds child labour in its supply chain

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Disclosure comes as campaigners call on UK to oppose company’s planned listing on London Stock Exchange

The online fashion seller Shein has admitted it found two cases of child labour and factories failing to pay the minimum wage in its supply chain last year, as it tries to gain backing for a potential £50bn UK stock market flotation.

The disclosure, in Shein’s 2023 sustainability report, comes after workers’ rights campaigners called for the government to oppose a possible listing of Shein on the London Stock Exchange over concerns about a lack of transparency about its supply chain and ethical questions. The British Fashion Council (BFC) has also said the listing, which could be announced as early as next month, would be a “significant concern” to the industry.

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EU plan to impose import duty on cheap goods could dent Shein and Temu

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Brussels move to end tax loophole exploited by China-linked marketplaces could also dent Shein’s planned London listing

The EU is moving forward with plans to impose customs duty on cheap goods in a shift that could hit imports from online retailers and harm a hoped-for London listing by the fast-fashion seller Shein.

The potential change comes amid growing disquiet among retailers based in the UK, elsewhere in Europe, and the US about rising competition from Chinese-linked marketplaces Shein and Temu, which exploit a loophole that excludes low-value items from import duty.

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Human rights group urges UK financial regulator to block Shein’s LSE flotation

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Campaigners allege Uyghur people used as forced labour at some of fast-fashion retailer’s cotton suppliers in China

A human rights group has urged Britain’s financial regulator to block the Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein’s planned blockbuster flotation on the London Stock Exchange.

Stop Uyghur Genocide, a UK-based human rights charity that alleges minority Uyghur people are being used as forced labour at some of Shein’s cotton suppliers in China’s north-western Xinjiang region, has begun a legal campaign against the planned stock market listing.

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Stop Shein listing on the FTSE, workers’ rights campaigners urge

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Groups issue call to next government amid criticism of online fashion retailer’s labour practices and accusations of copying

Workers rights campaigners have called for the UK’s next government to oppose the online fashion business Shein joining the FTSE, arguing that a London listing would be “yet another betrayal to working people everywhere and the planet”.

Alena Ivanova, campaigns lead at Labour Behind the Label, said it had heard the news of senior British politicians courting Shein’s £50bn listing “with dismay” given what she claimed was a lack of transparency about its supply chain and ethical concerns.

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