In March 2020, Forever 21 was named in ASPI’s report as one of at least 82 global brands whose supply chains were highly likely to contain Uyghur forced labour.
Forever 21 was also named in a report from the Helena Kennedy Centre, published in November 2021, as one of many international brands whose supply chains were linked to textile companies known to source cotton from Xinjiang and employ state-sponsored labour transfers.
Forever 21 has not responded to either report’s findings.
An investigation into how forced-labor-produced cotton and cotton-based goods from the Uyghur Region wend their way into international supply chains. Based on international trade and customs data, the report concludes that at the same time as Xinjiang cotton has come to be associated with human rights abuses and to be considered high risk for international brands, China's cotton industry has benefited from an export strategy that obscures cotton's origin in the Uyghur Region.
(First published 1 March 2020) The Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country. Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 82 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen.