Alden Wicker

Could the Uyghur Human Rights Crisis Finally Force Fashion to Reveal Its Supply Chain?

Customs and Border Patrol has been very focused on detaining shipments of cotton products it suspects are from Xinjiang, seizing Uniqlo shirts in May 2021. But things are slipping through. A December 2021 report from the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University showed how Xinjiang cotton was being laundered through international firms before it got to the US. Given the often long and complex clothing supply chain, a lot of brands don’t know where they’re getting their cotton from, and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, passed by Biden in December 2021, just may push manufacturers to use blockchain technology to ensure that cotton isn’t made with forced labor. This could be the real-world case that could finally prove blockchain advocates right when they say Web3 will change the world for the better.
