Finance
Shein reports two child labour cases in 2024 as it increased supplier audits
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on February 26, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on February 26, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
Shein's 2024 audits revealed two child labour cases, matching 2023 figures. The company, planning a London IPO, emphasizes zero tolerance.
LONDON (Reuters) - Fast-fashion retailer Shein found two cases of child labour at its suppliers last year, the same number as in 2023, following more audits of its mostly China-based third-party manufacturers, the company told British lawmakers in a letter.
The disclosure by Shein, which is planning an initial public offering in London, was in a February 7 response to questions from a British parliamentary committee. It was written by Yinan Zhu, Shein's general counsel for Europe, Middle East and Africa, and published late Tuesday.
Shein has faced allegations of worker abuses in its supply chain, and the cross-party Business and Trade Committee questioned Zhu in person in January, following up with letters asking for additional information.
In the letter, Zhu said one of the incidents involved a child aged 11 years and 8 months, whom the audit found spent time during the summer holiday at a factory where her father was the general manager and her mother worked, and "helped with tasks".
"Nonetheless, and irrespective of these details, we took the issue extremely seriously, including designating the incident as child labour and immediately terminating our relationship with the supplier," Zhu said in the letter.
The second case was 15 years and 3 months. Zhu also gave the ages of the children Shein previously said it found working at suppliers in 2023 as 15 years and 11 months, and 15 years and 9 months.
Shein conducted around 4,300 audits in 2024, covering about 317,000 workers, up from 4,000 audits in 2023 covering 285,000 workers, according to the letter.
"We take a strict zero tolerance approach to child labour," Zhu wrote. "We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that these isolated cases are removed from our supply chain entirely in future, bringing our network of third-party suppliers globally, including in China, Brazil and Turkey, along with us."
(Reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Richard Chang)
Shein reported two cases of child labour at its suppliers in 2024, the same number as in 2023.
The youngest child found working was 11 years and 8 months old.
Shein conducted around 4,300 audits in 2024, covering about 317,000 workers.
Shein maintains a strict zero tolerance approach to child labour and is committed to removing such cases from its supply chain.
Shein's representative, Yinan Zhu, was questioned by the cross-party Business and Trade Committee in January.
Explore more articles in the Finance category
