Cotton sourcing awareness should be a top priority by brands to increase transparency. Globally there have been cumulative pressures on cotton supply chains to demonstrate or refute the usage of Xinjiang cotton since the expose of forced labor.

Uniqlo is one instance of the likely risks to brands as well as the apparel manufacturers within their supply chains.

The US authorities blocked a shipment of goods from Uniqlo over worries that its supply chain has a connection with forced labor in China’s Xinjiang province, it is apparent that the ‘red flag’ is more than raised, says MeiLin Wan, VP of textile sales at Applied DNA Sciences.