The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is coming under increasing pressure to block the listing of fast-fashion giant Shein due to concerns over the alleged use of forced labour in its supply chains. In a letter to the City watchdog today, seen by City A.M .
, lawyers of the campaign group Stop Uyghur Genocide have called for the Chinese-founded retailer’s rumoured London IPO to be blocked unless the regulator is “satisfied that its products are not tainted by forced labour”. “The UK is a signatory to various International Labour Organisation conventions. Our client is concerned that listing a company on the [London Stock Exchange] whose products are manufactured by supply chains engaging workers in breach of minimum standards set out in those conventions is inconsistent with the UK’s obligations under them,” Stop Uyghur Genocide’s lawyers Leigh Day wrote.
Shein’s listing would be “irreconcilable with the FCA’s statutory duty of integrity, its principles and standards as well as the protection of investors,” Leigh Day claimed. The calls come amid a raging debate across the City over whether to embrace the IPO of Shein, which is expected to be one of the biggest deals of the past decade and fetch the company a price tag of more than £50bn. Shein has been dogged by concerns over its alleged use of forced labour since a report in 2021 sounded the alarm on conditions in the Chinese district of Nancun, where several of its outsourced factories are based.
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