At least 15 Bangladeshi factories that imported hundreds of tons of cotton fabric in 2024 from two companies linked to a Chinese forced labour programme are supplying some of Ireland's major clothing retailers, an RTÉ investigation has found.
The retailers include Penneys, Dunnes Stores, Marks and Spencer, and Tesco.
The investigation found that the two Chinese companies, the Esquel Group and Jiangsu Lianfa Textiles, have long-established operations in Xinjiang, a region that grows up to 30% of the world’s cotton and is home to a persecuted minority group called the Uyghurs.
Several clothing retailers vowed to cease sourcing from Xinjiang in recent years after it was revealed that China had built an extensive system of state repression targeting the region’s predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities, particularly the Uyghurs.
A report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, published in 2022, concluded that China was responsible for "serious human rights violations" in the region, including torture, rape, forced abortions, and forced sterilisation. The report said the abuses could constitute crimes against humanity.
State media reports and other documentation, including academic research reports, describe the Esquel Group and Jiangsu Lianfa Textiles’ use of Uyghur forced labour through a state-backed labour transfer scheme.
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RTÉ Investigates verified video footage of Uyghur workers at their sites as recently as December 2024 and obtained up-to-date corporate records to show their ongoing ownership of farms and factories in Xinjiang. The companies did not respond to requests for comment.
The findings raise serious questions over three of the retailers’ commitments to ensuring their supply chains are free from Uyghur forced labour.
Tesco, Penneys, and Marks and Spencer have all publicly vowed to not source Xinjiang cotton, but RTÉ Investigates found that those vows were underwritten by certifications and testing methods that allowed untraceable cotton to flood into supply chains. Dunnes Stores has no public position on the issue.
READ: How forced Uyghur labour could be woven into your wardrobe
One certification body in particular, Better Cotton, told RTÉ Investigates that the system used by Tesco, Marks and Spencer, and Dunnes Stores – called mass balance – was "not designed, and cannot be used, to give assurances about the actual cotton that is used in a product".
Better Cotton describes itself as the largest cotton sustainability programme in the world, and it says it is responsible for over a fifth of the world’s cotton production. It is funded and led by industry stakeholders.
A former employee of Better Cotton, who asked for their identity to be protected, said that cotton sourced through mass balance "may potentially include Xinjiang cotton".
These claims were echoed by Patricia Carrier, a human rights lawyer with the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region, who told RTÉ Investigates that Better Cotton "can be mixed or blended with what they call conventional cotton very early on in the supply chain, and that includes cotton from the Uyghur region".
Better Cotton’s mass balance system is used by many of the largest clothing retailers in the world and underpins the delivery of millions of items of clothes to the European Union each year.
Tesco cited it as its main defence against the sourcing of Xinjiang cotton, and it is the system that underwrites Marks and Spencer’s claim that all its cotton is "responsibly sourced".
But the system is not responsible for protecting against forced labour, and the risks of exposure to forced labour are highlighted by a group of companies that are registered to supply through Better Cotton’s mass balance: Jiangsu Lianfa Textile and its subsidiaries, including one of its subsidiaries in the city of Aksu, in Xinjiang’s cotton growing heartland.
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Better Cotton emphasised to RTÉ Investigates that it was "the responsibility of retailers, brands, manufacturers and other supply chain actors to carry out due diligence on all the materials they source".
It also said that Jiangsu Lianfa Textile had "committed not to engage in any activity which could damage the reputation or interests of Better Cotton or the integrity of the platform".
Penneys and Marks and Spencer also pointed to their use of scientific testing to verify the source of the cotton used in their clothes.
RTÉ Investigates spoke to Dr Len Wassenaar, a leading expert in the type of testing used by the retailers, and he cast doubt on its effectiveness, particularly in the testing of mixed or blended cotton fabrics.
These blended cotton fabrics are used to make many of the clothes available for purchase on the high street.
"Mixing and blending, that is going to be a huge problem for using any isotopic or geochemical fingerprint," Dr Wassenaar said.
"You could have a cotton from the US mixed with a cotton from China and [they] might be very different from each other isotopically. And if you mix them together, of course, it's just going to be a mixture of the two, which is a meaningless result."
Oritain, the company that provides testing services to Penneys and Marks and Spencer, told RTÉ Investigates that it was "providing a hypothesis driven solution, not determining origin" and that it used "multiple analytical techniques – including isotopes, trace elements, and non-traditional isotopes." It also said that a "known" blend of cotton did represent a "testable origin".
While Tesco, Marks and Spencer, and Penneys all engaged extensively with RTÉ Investigates over a period of months, Dunnes Stores refused to engage despite repeated attempts to contact them, including the hand delivery of a request for comment to their head office in Dublin.
The company provided no information about its clothing supply chain to RTÉ Investigates – and it provides none to the consumer. It is the only retailer in the investigation that has no public position on ethical or sustainable sourcing.
Tesco, Penneys and Marks and Spencer told RTÉ Investigates that they received declarations from the Bangladeshi factories that the cotton used in their clothes was not from Xinjiang. The retailers did not elaborate on how this information was authenticated.
Experts consulted by RTÉ Investigates, however, said much more work was needed to ensure supply chains were kept free from Uyghur forced labour. "We need to see mapping all the way down to raw material level because that's where most of the more egregious human rights harms are happening," Ms Carrier said.
"It's at the bottom of the supply chain, and so it is very important that companies are transparent and that they provide more disclosure."
What is clear is that untraceable cotton, some of it linked to Uyghur forced labour, is continuing to make its way into European supply chains, years after the issue was first identified.
"There are other sources for cotton outside of China, and there are opportunities for companies to change their supply chains, and they do when governments demand it," Laura Murphy, an academic and expert of Xinjiang supply chains said.
"But short of enforcement, short of regulation, companies will continue to ship products made with forced labour into Ireland," Ms Murphy added.
RTÉ Investigates: Forced Fashion is broadcast tonight, 24 September at 9:35 on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Documentary produced/directed by John Cunningham.
