Arlington, VA – Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) is the leading facility-based certification organization for sewn products. WRAP is a not-for-profit that has focused for the past 19 years on verifying and improving labor conditions in factories around the world. One of WRAP’s core principles is that forced labor of any kind has no place in the sourcing and manufacture of apparel, footwear and accessories.
In December of 2018, we learned of reports from several media outlets that a WRAP certified factory, Hetian Taida, located in Xinjiang in northwestern China, was using forced labor from a government run reeducation camp. Immediately upon learning of these serious allegations, we launched an investigation, which included sending one of our senior auditors to do a full on-site audit of the facility. Based on the findings of that investigation, we confirmed that this facility was not located within the premises of the reeducation camp, nor even in immediate proximity to it. Instead, it was in a completely separate industrial park, which houses other production facilities as well, and is easily accessible without any physical barriers or any other kind of excessive security. The investigation included interviews with a significant portion of the workforce at the facility, which confirmed they were not drawn from the reeducation camp.
As a result of that investigation, we concluded that the facility we visited was not engaged in the use of forced labor and we issued a statement about this on December 22, 2018.
Based on the allegations that Hetian Taida is operating a facility using forced labor inside a detention camp, on October 1, 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) covering apparel manufactured by Hetian Taida Apparel Co. Ltd. This WRO is against the parent company Hetian Taida, instead of the specific facility in that camp. The facility WRAP visited was, as noted above, an entirely different unit. Our organizational focus is on facility-based certification; we only audit individual production units, not parent companies, and we can only speak to conditions in the specific facilities we have audited. Any claims that WRAP certified the Hetian Taida facility in the detention camp are simply untrue.
The issue of forced labor remains one of very high significance and WRAP is a strong proponent of increased vigilance on this topic. We continue to support the need to bring greater attention to this matter, and remain committed to helping buyers ensure, through proper due diligence, that their supply chains remain free of forced labor.
