Temu Flip-Flopped on Cotton Policy Meant to Weed Out Forced Labor, Suppliers Say

Temu, a China-founded bargain shopping app, has been under fire from U.S. lawmakers, who say it hasn’t done enough to stamp out the use of forced labor in its supply chain. Temu, for its part, has said it keeps close watch on the thousands of small manufacturers that make up its sprawling supplier base.

But last year, Temu walked back a short-lived policy requiring suppliers to certify that cotton used in any apparel production wasn’t made in China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region, managers at numerous factories that make apparel sold on Temu told The Information. These Temu suppliers said the reversal, along with follow-up guidance from Temu staffers in some cases, encouraged them to continue using cotton from China instead of sourcing from other countries. That undercuts Temu’s stance that it takes compliance with a U.S. ban on imports from Xinjiang seriously, since most China-sourced cotton comes from the region. Xinjiang is the area where the U.S. has alleged China employs forced labor from Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities.