Laws have been passed in multiple locations globally requiring more transparency from companies about supply chains and imports to prevent goods made using forced labor from crossing borders. At the top of that list are the EU with the recently passed Forced Labour Regulation and the US with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). However, new evidence points to some shoe companies as dodging these laws through material tracing obfuscation tactics and labor transfer schemes.  

Relocating the forced labor 

For over a decade ethnic minorities from the Uyghur region in China have been rounded up and forced to work. From cotton to cobalt to clothing, it’s understood forced labor is baked into anything coming out of the area. Then five years ago investigations showed suppliers to shoe giants Nike and Skechers were connected to forced labor transfer schemes. A new approach to make forced labor goods harder to trace that is quickly spreading through China.   

As reported by TBIJ, one of the transfer scheme workers stated in a video they posted online after being moved to Jinjiang to work: 

“If I had a choice, I would never choose this path in life…” 

The factory this individual was forced to work at makes shoes for Tommy Hilfiger, Guess and Skechers. Sadly, they are just one of thousands in that factory alone. One in every five pairs of sneakers around the globe are made in Jinjiang in Fujian Province. That means thousands of name brand sneakers are likely being made through forced labor and labor transfer schemes. 

Multiple routes to exploitation 

Since 2021, dozens of labor transfer scheme workers from shoe factories in the area have posted videos. Overall, many of the clips show workers making branded shoes on the production lines.  

Another worker in one of the forced labor transfer factories states: 

“Where there’s a home, there’s no work – where there’s a job, there’s no home,”  

Moreover,  attempts by the Chinese government to muddy the supply chain waters don’t stop at the border. In addition to labor transfer schemes, trade data reveals another tactic. It shows that instead of shoes, 90% of exports from another factory in Fujian were raw materials and parts for shoes. These were being sent to a subsidiary factory in Vietnam. This factory makes shoes for Vans, The North Face and Timberland, brands owned by VF Corporation. 

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