Apple has imported clothes – likely shirts for retail store employees – from a company facing U.S. sanctions over forced labor at a subsidiary firm in China’s western Xinjiang region, reports The Guardian.
An Apple spokesman told the publication that the company had confirmed none of its suppliers currently source cotton from Xinjiang. However, the spokesperson didn’t say whether or not the tech giant had done so previously.
The U.S. government in July imposed sanctions on Changji Esquel Textile, a unit of the Hong Kong garment group Esquel, along with 10 other Chinese companies for alleged human rights violations in the Xinjiang region, including forced labor. Last week Apple CEO told Congress he wouldn’t tolerate forced labor in the company’s supply chains.
