Pressemeldungen - Unternehmensverantwortung & Lieferkettengesetz © FEMNET 20 May 2022 Critical questions about Hugo Boss's shareholders' meeting: Does the company use cotton from Xinjiang despite forced labour? Joint press release from FEMNET, the Clean Clothes Campaign and the Association of Critical Shareholders Bonn, Cologne, Berlin. Forced labour in China? Low wages in Ukraine? Lack of progress on climate protection? These and other questions must be asked by the fashion company Hugo Boss at its upcoming Annual General Meeting on May 24 by FEMNET, the umbrella association of critical shareholders and the campaign for clean clothing (CCC Germany). Recent research by STRG_F and Panorama has now proven the fingerprint of a cotton sample from the Xinjiang region in a shirt by Hugo Boss. There, the Chinese government suppresses the Uyghur minority: "Uighurs are imprisoned in labour and re-education camps and have to work in inhumane conditions on the cotton fields", says Dr Gisela Burckhardt, CEO of the women's rights organisation FEMNET. So does Hugo Boss benefit from the exploitation of the Uyghurs? Does it accept forced labour? The company denies this – Hugo Boss does not source cotton from the region. Another point of criticism: The fashion company does not take steps to ensure that workers receive wages from their suppliers that go to life. According to the Fashion Checker portal of the Clean Clothes Campaign, wages did not increase last year. The company does not even present an action plan to pay living wages step by step. This is one of the reasons why civil society organisations such as FEMNET have been fighting for a long time in the textile alliance with Hugo Boss and other textile companies – so far without resounding success. What does Hugo Boss want to do to achieve better pay for employees? The company also produces in Ukraine. “Before the war, about 220,000 people worked in the Ukrainian clothing and footwear industry. These were fed with about one-fifth of the living wage. The situation of the workers has been deteriorated by the coronavirus crisis and now – dramatically – by the war", says Sina Marx, coordinator of the campaign for clean clothing Germany. What does Hugo Boss do to improve the difficult situation of employees? Hugo Boss also has to ask critical questions about the circularity of his goods, the supply chain law and climate protection at the Annual General Meeting. background FEMNET is a non-profit women's rights organization working for better working conditions in the apparel industry of the Global South and a member of the Clean Clothes Campaign. femnet.de The the umbrella organisation of the Critical shareholders are a shareholder association that advocates greater responsibility and transparency of companies with regard to environmental protection, labour and human rights, arms production and the renunciation of profit maximization at the expense of third parties. criticalaktionaere.de The Clean Clothes Campaign is a network that stands up for the rights of workers in the supply chains of the international fashion industry. clean-clothes.de Press contact: FEMNET e.V. Sabine Kaldonek E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel.: 0160 - 94 80 58 82 Download the press release of 20.05.2022 (PDF file)
