Japanese apparel companies are strengthening their efforts to give due consideration to human rights when manufacturing clothes and other products. Consumers are becoming more sensitive to social issues involving the fashion industry. The industry is facing the challenge of tackling human rights issues in a responsible manner across its complicated supply chains ranging from raw materials to finished products. For instance, the use of cotton made in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region has been facing criticism in the wake of allegations of forced labor.

Sanyo Shokai, a long-established apparel maker, had been using Xinjiang cotton in a small number of products but decided to stop its use starting with products for spring this year. TSI Holdings has already discontinued the use of Xinjiang cotton. Mizuno, a comprehensive producer of sporting goods, decided to switch to the use of replacement materials. Fast Retailing, which owns Uniqlo and other clothing brands, aims to establish a system that allows the company to investigate whether there are risks of forced labor throughout the manufacturing process, including the procurement of raw materials.

However there are limitations in apparel companies’ attempts to completely eliminate the use of Xinjiang cotton. It is difficult to rule on the legality of the entire process of manufacturing cotton products, which involves a number of stages, including cotton cultivation, spinning and sewing.