Nike and Adidas amongst global brands using Uyghur Muslims as slave labor

[yourbreakfsat]

https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/global-brands-employ-uyghur-muslims-forced-labour

New Delhi: The Chinese government is forcing thousands of its Uyghur Muslim citizens to work as “forced labour” in hundreds of factories across Chinese cities, according to a report published by an Australian think tank in March this year.

The report released by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) titled “Uyghurs for Sale” stated that big, well-known global companies in the field of clothing, technology and automotive sectors like Abercrombie & Fitch, Amazon, GAP, H&M, Nike, Jack & Jones, Sharp, Siemens, Skechers, ASUS, Apple, Samsung, Huawei, BMW, Volkswagen, Sony, Polo Ralph Lauren, Puma, Victoria’s Secret, Vivo, among others, are using Uyghur Muslims as “forced labour” in their factories in China.

According to the report, these minority labour forces in China are being supplied in a systematic way under the revived and exploitative government-led labour transfer scheme to Chinese factories outside the Xinjiang province in China where this community of Muslims live.

“The ASPI has identified 27 factories in nine Chinese provinces that are using Uyghur labour transferred from Xinjiang since 2017. Those factories claim to be part of the supply chain of 83 well-known global brands. Between 2017 and 2019, we estimate that at least 80,000 Uyghurs were transferred out of Xinjiang and assigned to factories through labour transfer programmes under a Central government policy known as ‘Xinjiang Aid’,” the report said.

The factories in which these Uyghur Muslims are made to work form a major chunk of the supply chain of these big brands. For example, in January 2020, around 600 ethnic minority workers from Xinjiang were employed at Qingdao Taekwang Shoes Co. Ltd, which makes shoes for the American company Nike. The workforce in this factory are mostly Uyghur women from Hotan and Kashgar towns in China, which are remote parts of southern Xinjiang that the Chinese government has described as “backward” and “disturbed by religious extremism”.

The report also mentions that it had investigated into the Haoyuanpeng Clothing Manufacturing Co. Ltd, which has a strategic partnership with global companies like the Italian-South Korean fashion label Fila, German sportswear companies Adidas and Puma and Nike for manufacturing clothes and found that it was part of the “Xinjiang Aid” and had been receiving “forced labour”.

https://www.aspi.org.au/report/uyghurs-sale

In January 2020, around 600 ethnic minority workers from Xinjiang were employed at Qingdao Taekwang Shoes Co. Ltd (青岛泰光制鞋有限公司).48 Taekwang’s primary customer is the American multinational company Nike Incorporated. The Xinjiang workers are mostly Uyghur women from Hotan and Kashgar prefectures, which are remote parts of southern Xinjiang that the Chinese government has described as ‘backward’ and ‘disturbed by religious extremism’.

At the factory, the Uyghur labourers make Nike shoes during the day. In the evening, they attend a night school where they study Mandarin, sing the Chinese national anthem and receive ‘vocational training’ and ‘patriotic education’. The curriculum closely mirrors that of Xinjiang’s ‘re-education camps’.

The sprawling Taekwang factory compound is located in Laixi City, to the north of Qingdao in China’s Shandong province, and is owned by the Taekwang Group, a South Korean chemical and textile conglomerate (chaebol). Taekwang’s Laixi factory is one of the largest manufacturers of shoes for Nike, producing more than seven million pairs for the American brand annually.

I only quoted specific parts that relate to corporations involved in skating. I advise reading the entirety of both articles as they go into more detail.

If this thread gets focused, Nike lawyers did it.



CONSOOOM NYJAH 2

[georgethecat]

We should all be outraged. However, the western world's retail goods powerhouses and their reliance on slave labour and sweatshops has been out in the open for decades and it turns out, somehow, no one really cares. It's disgusting.

[CorneliusCardew]

Easy with the Sinophobia.

[lk130]

That's nuts, try to buy local & smaller business. .HAVEN'T BOUGHT NEW NIKES IN YEARS. The last "new" shoe I bought was the Dc Legacy, and I am also riding the Figgy 2's right now. Cheap labor is definitely alot better than that forced slave labor extremist stuff

[quarterpound]

Damn, respect.  Sok, neither company’s made anything good recently imo.

[Atiba Applebum]

From what I read in perhaps a different article was that the Air Max shoes are what specifically made there.   Not to give impunity to the SB line or anything

[Untilthewheelsfalloff]

US companies that conduct business with jurisdictions under human rights sanctions violate Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") regulations. The US Treasury Department just issued an advisory regarding the matter. The OFAC regulation not only applies to companies doing business directly but if any of the companies or its subsidiaries involved in the transaction have contact through their supply chains with the Xinjiang region that have used forced labor, they both would be in violation of Executive Order (E.O.) 13818. Meaning that if a skate shop stocked Nike's and not Nike directly but a separate company Nike bought materials was located in the Xinjiang region both the skate shop and Nike would have violated US sanctions law.

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/20200701_xinjiang_advisory.pdf

[professional]

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. This doesn't exonerate people from spending their dollars thoughtfully, but it is important to remember.

[thomas kook]

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. This doesn't exonerate people from spending their dollars thoughtfully, but it is important to remember.

yeah. i could choose to be outraged at nike or adidas and copy paste one of those don't do it memes but then i'd realize i'd be doing that from a computer built off of other peoples suffering and i'd be a big giant doodoohead, wouldn't i

[Mad Max]

Did you notice that it is the Chinese government that is forcing Uyghur Muslims to work?
Nike and Adidas get their product from there so that's how it's done.
Please don't think other skate brands aren't doing the same. Unfortunately they are small fish but they're swimming in the same waters.

Not happy. Don't spend money on Nike or Adidas.
In theory if they see drops in sales linked to this, they might move their operations. Not sure the Chinese government will change though and the basic economics of using slave labour over skilled labour is quite an attraction when you want to flood the markets with your products.

[Hyliannightmare]

Crazy times

[Roast beef]

We should all be outraged. However, the western world's retail goods powerhouses and their reliance on slave labour and sweatshops has been out in the open for decades and it turns out, somehow, no one really cares. It's disgusting.

So I’m assuming you’ve never bought anything from any of the brands listed in the original post?

[HeapsCool]

Expand Quote

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. This doesn't exonerate people from spending their dollars thoughtfully, but it is important to remember.

[close]

yeah. i could choose to be outraged at nike or adidas and copy paste one of those don't do it memes but then i'd realize i'd be doing that from a computer built off of other peoples suffering and i'd be a big giant doodoohead, wouldn't i

If we all followed your logic nothing would ever change because something else bad exists so whats the point of changing anything? Stupid reductive kook.

[georgethecat]

Expand Quote

We should all be outraged. However, the western world's retail goods powerhouses and their reliance on slave labour and sweatshops has been out in the open for decades and it turns out, somehow, no one really cares. It's disgusting.

[close]

So I’m assuming you’ve never bought anything from any of the brands listed in the original post?

My entire point was that we've all known about depraved labour standards for decades, but tuck that knowledge away in our minds to some extent when we make purchasing decisions, myself included. It's a disgusting thing.

But while we're on the topic of assumptions, I'm going to assume that since you back war criminals you also back slave labour.

[Roast beef]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

We should all be outraged. However, the western world's retail goods powerhouses and their reliance on slave labour and sweatshops has been out in the open for decades and it turns out, somehow, no one really cares. It's disgusting.

[close]

So I’m assuming you’ve never bought anything from any of the brands listed in the original post?

[close]

My entire point was that we've all known about depraved labour standards for decades, but tuck that knowledge away in our minds to some extent when we make purchasing decisions, myself included. It's a disgusting thing.

But while we're on the topic of assumptions, I'm going to assume that since you back war criminals you also back slave labour.

Ofcourse, it makes the world go round.

[Steve Kelly]

I wonder if Ishod will do the righteous thing and start blowing up his insta stories with this info 

[nicotinewheel]

Americans living in a country chock full of human rights violations and somehow still finding time to obsess over perceived Chinese injustice.

Wonder why? Who could this benefit?

[Sila]

I'm a bit stupid when it comes to economics. And don't know where to begin learning. But is it even possible to have a product made that is 'affordable' to us without the use of some nasty underpaid labor being involved?

Not backing slave labor btw. We mostly grow up in a world where a large amount of goods in front of us are products of both land/environment and people being heavily exploited.

It makes me feel helpless and I have yet to come to a conclusion about how to tackle this.

[Roast beef]

So does this mean we have to cancel everyone that rides for Nike/Adidas?

[cucktard]

I'm a bit stupid when it comes to economics. And don't know where to begin learning. But is it even possible to have a product made that is 'affordable' to us without the use of some nasty underpaid labor being involved?

Not backing slave labor btw. We mostly grow up in a world where a large amount of goods in front of us are products of both land/environment and people being heavily exploited.

It makes me feel helpless and I have yet to come to a conclusion about how to tackle this.

It was, from post-war until the flight overseas for higher profits. All skate stuff, Nike’s included were US made until the late 80’s.

Remember seeing ‘Union-made’ on labels? That was a selling point-it meant the workers got a decent wage, and presumably made their stuff with pride.

What we have not is not some inescapable law of nature, it was designed like this by humans, to profit (a small minority of) humans, and it can be improved on by humans.

So does this mean we have to cancel everyone that rides for Nike/Adidas?

No. We go to the root, and cancel capitalism

[Mr. Kamikazi]

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. This doesn't exonerate people from spending their dollars thoughtfully, but it is important to remember.

I recently was talking about this with a good friend; recently with all of the tragedies going on, my wife and I revisited where we will be spending our money etc, all of which revolves around completely eliminating business that carry Trump products and/or support him through donations, and spending money on products that are available on a smaller, local level. Nixing businesses that are not supportive of the Black community and LBGQT has also been a move we have made as we had to make some changes.

I have also been huge on making sure I do not buy products that have been tested on animals as well. I am far from perfect as I love dress shoes, etc, and many of those are made from leather/suede, so I am looking to steer away from that.

The key word as mentioned above is spend your money thoughtfully.

[Mad Max]

Pretty sure a company like Patagonia has a good ethical record.
Yes, their clothes are expensive however they are also built to last.
Longevity is another thing to think about.

[Matthew_James]

People bring up the abhorrent realities of shoe manufacturing, but I seldom see a suggested remedy that accompanies it. What do we as consumers do to change this? Do we exclusively buy New Balances made in the US/ UK? Do we pony up several hundred/ thousand dollars and buy high fashion shoes hand made in Italy/ Paris? It’s always a slippery slope once we start talking about how we’d go about fixing this sort of thing, but if anyone has any practical solutions I’d be more than willing to listen...

[JANUS]

People bring up the abhorrent realities of shoe manufacturing, but I seldom see a suggested remedy that accompanies it. What do we as consumers do to change this? Do we exclusively buy New Balances made in the US/ UK? Do we pony up several hundred/ thousand dollars and buy high fashion shoes hand made in Italy/ Paris? It’s always a slippery slope once we start talking about how we’d go about fixing this sort of thing, but if anyone has any practical solutions I’d be more than willing to listen...

Yes.

[Sluggloaph]

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. This doesn't exonerate people from spending their dollars thoughtfully, but it is important to remember.

[bigdave]

Consolidated was -always- right about this.

[ndsr]

I'm a bit stupid when it comes to economics. And don't know where to begin learning. But is it even possible to have a product made that is 'affordable' to us without the use of some nasty underpaid labor being involved?

Not backing slave labor btw. We mostly grow up in a world where a large amount of goods in front of us are products of both land/environment and people being heavily exploited.

It makes me feel helpless and I have yet to come to a conclusion about how to tackle this.

I recommend selling all of your possessions then buy a chainsaw, basic non powered hand tools, fishing rod, tackle, solar set up, male and female buffalo.  Move to the Midwest buy property that contains trees, cut down the trees to build a cabin.  Then start breeding buffalos they will provide everything you need to survive.  Reference Native American culture pre white man.  I actually think you will reach a point in creating the best buffalo skin macasins the world has ever seen!  If your not a great woodworker a teepee would suffice

[Hevonen]

Hasn't this been pretty common knowledge for a while already? Sucks, but won't change as long as it's legal to import stuff from these countries. Smaller brands aren't any better either

[Spaced Cadet]

I'm a bit stupid when it comes to economics. And don't know where to begin learning. But is it even possible to have a product made that is 'affordable' to us without the use of some nasty underpaid labor being involved?

Not backing slave labor btw. We mostly grow up in a world where a large amount of goods in front of us are products of both land/environment and people being heavily exploited.

It makes me feel helpless and I have yet to come to a conclusion about how to tackle this.

Pontus Alv's new shoe company, Last Resort AB, seems to be combating this issue somewhat. Obviously it will be skater owned and I think the shoes will be manufactured in Portugal. I'm no expert but from my understanding Portugal's shoe manufacturing industry has been on the rise lately.

They apparently have better craftsmanship and working conditions than their Asian counterparts right now. They still basically get paid the federal minimum but I guess that's better than literal slave labor.

Like I said I'm no expert but Portugal manufacturing seems like a much better option right now. Last Resort is supposed to be coming soon so we'll have to see how affordable they are but Pontus has said that they would be. I'm hoping the shoes are good and affordable because even small skater owned brands like State are made in china because they feel they have to in order to compete.

Edit: Never mind Last Resort are made in Vietnam.... God damn it Pontus.

[l1ll1ll1]

Expand Quote

People bring up the abhorrent realities of shoe manufacturing, but I seldom see a suggested remedy that accompanies it. What do we as consumers do to change this? Do we exclusively buy New Balances made in the US/ UK? Do we pony up several hundred/ thousand dollars and buy high fashion shoes hand made in Italy/ Paris? It’s always a slippery slope once we start talking about how we’d go about fixing this sort of thing, but if anyone has any practical solutions I’d be more than willing to listen...

[close]

Yes.

Really interested: Are NB Numerics produced in England or the US? Apparently New Balance also started producing some of its stuff in China, but I don't know which part of their product line.