Kontoor Brands responded
Kontoor Brands condemns the use of forced labor and is firmly committed to preventing the use of forced labor in our global supply chain.
At Kontoor, we do not purchase cotton. We purchase finished garments through sourcing operations and fabric used in our internal garment manufacturing.
We acknowledge the global cotton supply chain is complex...[t]hat said, the relationship with our suppliers is governed by our Vendor Terms of Engagement policy and our Cotton Fiber Sourcing policy – both of which expressly prohibit the use of forced labor. Our Cotton Fiber Sourcing policy requires third-party suppliers to take specific actions to ensure that no forced labor is used in the harvesting or production of cotton used to make products for Kontoor.
As part of these policies, we also require third-party suppliers to provide the origin of the cotton used in our products. To that end, we have implemented chain-of-custody audits with our suppliers and found no evidence that our products' cotton is sourced from the Xinjiang region...
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