British lawmakers plan to drag out Shane's boss over labor practices

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A cross-party group of lawmakers are planning to bring legal action against the bosses of controversial fast fashion chain Shein, which is considering a listing on the London Stock Exchange.

The House of Commons Business Select Committee is finalizing plans to conduct an inquiry into employment rights in the workplace as early as January, according to Labor MP Liam Byrne.

Lawmakers are expected to call Shein Chairman Donald Tang and other retail executives to discuss the risk that Chinese goods made with forced labor in Xinjiang will end up in clothing purchased in the West. I'm expecting it. The list of witnesses to be called has not yet been finalized.

Byrne said he and other committee members would like to hear evidence from some of the biggest names in the fast fashion industry. This could include companies like Shein, he said, and could also include Temu and TikTok Shop.

We will seek dialogue with the highest levels of those organizations, so for Shein, I would like to call Donald Tang, and we need to ensure that leaders at the highest levels of these organizations take labor rights seriously, he added.

Byrne said it was his idea to hold a hearing just before the government's employment rights bill moves on to reporting stage to parliament.

The inquiry will look into whether the new law adequately protects UK workers and its impact on businesses. However, it will also examine the separate issue of how to ensure adequate protection from poor labor standards, including concerns about forced labor in international supply chains.

The committee will want to look into these issues as it seeks to ensure that fixing Britain's work rights does not risk importing from places with very poor labor rights, Byrne said.

He added that he would like to hear investigations from companies that provide both good and bad examples of labor market practices.

Shein, the China-founded fast fashion giant valued at $66 billion in its latest funding round, has shaken up the clothing industry with its model of shipping cheap clothes directly from Chinese factories to Western shoppers.

The company began plans for an initial public offering (IPO) late last year. It initially targeted New York, but was rejected by U.S. regulators and moved to London. Shein is still awaiting approval from Chinese regulators for an overseas listing.

Shane declined to comment. The group previously told the Financial Times it has a zero-tolerance policy on forced labor and that the majority of its cotton is understood to be produced in Australia and the United States.

The fashion group has partnered with Oritain, a company that tests the origins of cotton supply chains, and found in November 2023 that less than 2% of Sheins cotton tested positive for unauthorized cotton, below the industry average.

The retailer has privately tried to reassure Western politicians and regulators that it does not use cotton from the Xinjiang region, but has been reluctant to say so explicitly for fear of angering the Chinese government, according to company officials.

Other fashion brands have publicly abandoned Xinjiang cotton, although experts say it is actually very difficult to completely remove it from the supply chain.

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More than 45,000 people signed a petition from a campaign group called Say No To Shein. The group is calling on the British government to block the company's application to list in London pending a thorough investigation into its labor practices, environmental impacts and tax arrangements.

But Labor frontbenchers have spoken positively about the prospects for a UK Shein IPO and have held meetings with Tang. Labor has also resisted calls to close tax loopholes used by Shein. This allows businesses to avoid import duties by shipping small packages directly to customers.

Kamella Hudson, a lobbyist at FGS Global, a consulting firm advising Shein, recently met with Tang and Finance Ministers Tulip Siddiq and Poppy Gustafsson to discuss a potential listing, Bloomberg reported.

Hudson was previously sent in when Labor's finance team objected. In September, she worked closely with Prime Minister Rachel Reeves at the Labor Party conference.

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