After a Northern Ireland shopper claimed to have found a message from Chinese dissident inside their trousers purchased at the Primark store, the company had to clear its stand against allegation that it sourced clothes from forced labour camps or prisons in China. Amnesty International said that a local woman handed over a secret note hidden inside a pair of trousers, supposedly written by a Chinese worker held in a forced labour camp.
Primark has said that it would investigate her claims, however, there is no evidence that any of their clothes were made from slave labour camps in China.
According to Primark, the three-quarter crop trousers, that the woman purchased were last ordered by Primark in early 2009 and were last sold in Northern Ireland in October 2009. They found it strange that the matter was brought to light now, given that the trousers were on sale four years ago.
Nine inspections of the suppliers have been carried out by Primark's ethical standards team since 2009. And the team did not find any prison or other forced labour of any kind during these inspections. It was the first UK retailer to sign the accord on fire and building safety in Bangladesh in order to work collaboratively with other brands and stakeholders in the industry to bring about sustainable long-term change in the country.
