French sport retailer Decathlon, owned by the Mulliez group, has been accused by investigative journalism NGO Disclose and French TV programme “Cash Investigation” of having as a subcontractor in China a company exploiting Uighur labour, which Decathlon denies, and of sourcing cotton from the Xinjiang region, the AFP agency learnt on Thursday.
Mulliez-owned Decathlon has been accused by Disclose and French TV programme Cash Investigation of having as a subcontractor in China a company exploiting Uighur labour – Martin LELIEVRE / AFP/Archives
Decathlon has been accused by the two media outlets of sourcing textiles from Qingdao Jifa Group, a company that “relies on a forced labour network in China,” reported Disclose in an article published on Thursday morning.
In the Cash Investigation documentary to be broadcast Thursday evening, which AFP was able to view, a local executive stated that cotton stored at the warehouse of a company producing for Decathlon might come from Xinjiang, the region where the Muslim Uighur people are the main ethnic group.
Decathlon’s communication department confirmed it is sourcing goods from Qingdao Jifa, while also stating to AFP that “we strongly condemn all forms of forced labour. We are committed on a daily basis to ensuring integrity and respect for fundamental rights in our business operations and value chain, and we will not hesitate to react and take all the necessary measures if the facts were to be proven.”
The same source said that “100% of the cotton used by Decathlon in manufacturing its products comes from sources committed to sustainable practices, guaranteeing the absence of any form of forced labour, and including organic and recycled cotton.”
In the past, Xinjiang has been hit by bloody attacks attributed by the authorities to Islamists and separatists, and China has launched a huge security campaign in the region, labelling it as counter-terrorism. According to claims by NGOs and Western studies, which AFP wasn’t able to verify, Uighurs are being subjected to forced labour practices.
In 2020, the United Nations published an alarming report on the plight of the Muslim minority in Xinjiang. A publication that came in the wake of an alert issued in 2020 by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and was followed the same year by a document from the Center for Global Policy denouncing a more serious involvement of fashion industry players than previously reported. Amnesty International hammered the point home in 2021, after more than 180 associations and trade unions had formed the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uighur Region.
Cash Investigation mentioned products bearing the logo of the US pro basketball league, the NBA, of which Decathlon has been a partner since 2021. Decathlon claims to be licensed to sell products “in the livery of the NBA and its franchises,” and to do so “in over 1,700 Decathlon stores worldwide and online,” in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.
The US Congress passed a law in December 2021 prohibiting all product imports from the Xinjiang region, unless companies in the region are able to prove that their manufacturing activity does not involve forced labour.
Cash Investigation is also interested in the legal status of the Mulliez family’s empire, which includes retailers such as Leroy Merlin, Kiabi, Flunch, Boulanger and Auchan, all controlled by the Association familiale Mulliez (AFM), a collective body that doesn’t identify as a consolidated group.
At the end of 2024, Auchan announced an extensive redundancy plan threatening 2,400 jobs in France, but other AFM-controlled retailers, like Decathlon, enjoy a more solid financial position, and the unions have called for redeploying Auchan employees in them.
Given the situation, Decathlon shocked its employee representatives by distributing €1 billion in shareholder dividends at the end of 2024.
