Shein reports two child labour cases in 2024 as it increased supplier audits

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)