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Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

‘Ethical’ Cotton Is Being Picked by Child Labourers in India, Watchdog Finds

A new report has linked businesses supplying companies including Zara-owner Inditex, H&M Group, Gap Inc. and Amazon to incidents of forced labour and debt bondage on Indian cotton farms.
A cotton bud against a bright blue sky. An investigation has found children as young as six are working in Indian cotton fields connected to the supply chains of major brands.
Children as young as six are working in Indian cotton fields connected to the supply chains of major brands, an investigation has found. (Shutterstock)

Pratibha Syntex claims to be India’s largest sustainable apparel manufacturer. It works with thousands of farmers growing cotton promoted under organic and ethical standards. Its customers include some of the world’s largest brands like

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Further Reading

Fashion’s Supply Chain Is Still Full of Banned Chinese Cotton

A study published this week found traces of cotton from Xinjiang in nearly a fifth of the products it examined, highlighting the challenges brands face in policing their supply chains even as requirements to do so spread to raw materials from diamonds to leather and palm oil.

Are H&M and Zara Harming Forests in Brazil?

Cotton linked to environmental and human rights abuses in Brazil is leaking into the supply chains of major fashion brands, a new investigation has found, prompting Zara-owner Inditex to send a scathing rebuke to the industry’s biggest sustainable cotton certifier.

About the author
Sarah Kent
Sarah Kent

Sarah Kent is Chief Sustainability Correspondent at The Business of Fashion. She is based in London and drives BoF's coverage of critical environmental and labour issues.

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