cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/45649428
[…]
Ultra cheap e-commerce platforms Temu and fast fashion brand Shein are selling products made from Chinese cotton despite the high risk of links to slavery.
More than 80 per cent of Chinese cotton is produced in the Xinjiang province where an estimated more than 800,000 Uighurs are enslaved.
This masthead has seen multiple examples of cotton products made in China available for sale on Temu and Shein, including clothing and bedding.
Australian Human Rights Institute director Justine Nolan said there was a heightened risk of slavery with any cotton products made in China.
“You just couldn’t say the risk is low when you’ve got over 80 per cent of cotton coming from Xinjiang,” she said. “That’s a high risk.”
[…]
China produces about 20 per cent of the world’s cotton, with about 84 per cent coming from the Xinjiang province. The US banned cotton from the Xinjiang province in 2022 under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
Ms Nolan said retailers and manufacturers would need to ascertain whether the cotton was produced in China or was sourced from a supply chain outside of China.
“The reality of actually finding that out is very difficult,” she said. “There’s a heightened risk for any cotton products coming out of China that they are tainted by forced labour.”
Conversely, Ms Nolan said Australia had a very strong cotton industry. “I would say cotton coming out of Australia is a hell of a lot safer than cotton coming out of China.”
[…]
Honestly, I would not be surprised by this statistic for these companies.
Most clothing is likely made from cheap, unregulated, likely exploited individuals, slavery ties or not. China, Vietnam, etc.
To really bring in your ethics into clothes shopping you have to be privileged or thrift everything second hand. It is not cheap to ethically shop for clothes.
Shout out for Prana for introducing the concept of Fair Trade to me.
However, it is not to say everyone wearing other clothing brands should feel guilty or anything. Most people are living paycheck to paycheck. Its not easy affording >$25 ethically sourced shirts when you can get another brand new shirt for $3, $5, whatever.
Expanding on whay youre saying:
There is only a certain amount of responsibility we can lay on a person doing their best and still not earning enough to afford to live with fully ethical sourcing of everything in their lives. It sucks that this is the system we are in, and we can all take steps to try to reduce our “unethical consumption” footprint, but ultimately the largest blame must lie with the powerful industries that happily benefit from unethical sourcing, the powers and politicians that permit or even reward it, and the forces both political and corporate that fight to keep all wages low.
This all bears huge similarities to carbon pollution, where powers have worked to shift the sense of responsibility off of themselves and onto the populace/consumers.
I love how Kotn has ethically sourced Danny Trejo
Damn. Wait until you hear about iPhones. Lmao
Is AliExpress no different?
That’s why I only buy electronics on AliExpress.
I would say it is the same according to several other reports, but the Australian institute just didn’t investigate specifially AliExpress in that case I would say.
Yeah, and? Hasn’t this been know since like. A decade or so? Hasn’t this been like this since it’s founding?
Everyone knows, and so far, nobody able to stop this has cared.
This isn’t news, this is just sad
Remember the building collapse in Bangladesh filled with textile workers that got crushed?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rana_Plaza_collapse
I remember clothing industry executives going on the news tearfully saying they didn’t know about it and will change things.
Uh uh.
Oh I remember that, and I remember right away thinking “buuuuuuuulshit you won’t change anything, you’ll just make sure any news won’t come out as easy next time”
It is not new but we need permanent reminders to not buy these stuff.
An other reason to avoid buying stuff from them is that 80% of their products are illegal or out of EU regulation, like toxic components in kids toys, from a recent survey from french customs, after someone reported pedo sex dolls on shein online store.
Close, it’s “because”, not “despite.”
Uh huh, im sure this western colonial state is super worried about human rights abuse…
You certainly aren’t. Hows the whataboutism working for you champ?
Oh yes as opposed to the cotton grown by executives and lawyers
Nothing in between lawyers and literal slaves?
The reeks of more anti Chinese propaganda.
Hello tankie!
I know it sucks when your favorite dictatorship get called out for the horrible shit they pull, but that’s life.
Live with it
Removed by mod
I believe everyone would use slaves if there were no moral consequences, hence the demand for humanoid robots.
The filthy rich, having zero morals or empathy, happily use literal slaves in any country they can get away with it, also explaining their obsession with building humanoid robots. Robots which they imply will be affordable for everyone, but which will only ever be available for the filthy rich to have and use, in turn furthering their plan to make literal slaves of all of us.
Lol we’re all slaves, it’s just that this slave labour disrupts amazon’s business
And that makes it okay how?
Who the fuck said slavery is ok?
Literally the person I replied to. The fuck has Amazon got to do with anything. If it’s wrong for Amazon to do it. It’s wrong for shein/temu to do it. Exploitation is wrong. One exploitative capitalist group isn’t going to save us from the other. There’s no reason to even bring Amazon etc in. Apart from whataboutism/justification.
The point is that this has nothing to do with slavery, it’s a part of the massive campaign underway to discredit temu and shein because they are disrupting amazon and the like. The same shady shit has been on sale on amazon for years and no one batted an eye
It has plenty to do with slavery. Plenty people have noticed. There’s been articles for years about Amazon. Just because someone calls out shein/temu and China’s complicitness doesn’t make it a defense of Amazon. Temu and Shein aren’t going to save us from Amazon, or make Amazon better. And even if they did, it doesn’t justify the exploitation.
Fuck Amazon, Shein, and temu. They’re all exploitative capitalist ghouls.
Jajajajajajajaja
