U.S. Customs and Border Protection performed Isotopic tests on shoes and garments it collected which revealed 27 percent have links to cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, which has been banned because of concerns over forced labor.
To help enforce the law, customs officials have turned to isotopic testing, which can link cotton to specific geographic areas by analyzing the concentration of stable elements like carbon and hydrogen present in both the crop and the environment in which it has been grown, experts say.
Ten of the 37 garments collected by Customs and Border Protection in May returned as “consistent” with Xinjiang, the documents show. Descriptions of the items detail a range of apparel, from boxers, jeans, and tee-shirts to baby onesies and dresses. All contained cotton, in some cases mixed with other textiles such as spandex and rayon.
The amount of Xinjiang cotton entering the U.S. should be zero, said a social activist. Anything above zero percent should be a real warning. Isotopic testing is not yet a “routine process” for U.S. Customs. Officials at individual U.S. ports can request testing if they receive allegations about specific shipments or suspect the goods have links to Xinjiang.
Many retailers have also turned to isotopic testing in a bid to keep their supply chain free of cotton with links to forced labor. Goods produced partially or entirely in Xinjiang are banned in the U.S.
A federal report published last year estimated that cotton from Xinjiang accounted for roughly 87 percent of China’s production and 23 percent of the global supply in 2020 and 2021. Countries including Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bangladesh — some of the world’s largest producers of cotton clothing and consumer goods — still import large quantities of finished fabric from China. It then often makes its way to the U.S. in the form of apparel made by suppliers in those countries, according to the report.
Victoria’s Secret, Ralph Lauren, and e-commerce giant Shein are among the companies that contract with Oritain, an isotopic testing company headquartered in New Zealand, to verify the origin of cotton in their supply chains.
US Customs detect banned Chinese cotton in imported garment
