Shein does little to inspire confidence in MPspublished at 17:49 Greenwich Mean Time
Simon Jack
Business editor
The Business Select Committee chair was getting pretty frustrated at the testimony of fast fashion retailer Shein’s General Counsel Yinan Zhu who would not give a straight answer to Liam Byrnes opening question as to whether Shein products contain any cotton from China – let alone from controversial Xinjiang region.
The answer is obviously yes but Zhu has said she would prefer to give a written answer to the committee.
Lib Dem MP Charlie Maynard accuses Shein’s General Counsel Yinan Zhu of disrespecting the committee by refusing to answer even the most basic questions.
Zhu has said she was answering the questions to her best ability. Maynard replied by saying he did not believe that was true calling her efforts “ridiculous”.
An exasperated Byrne told the Shein lawyer that her testimony to the Business Select Committee
bordered on contempt and that he was horrified that a company that sold over £1bn worth of goods to the UK and was seeking a listing on the London Stock
Exchange refused to answer basic question such as whether Shein products
contained Chinese cotton.
He said that Zhu’s appearance had generated
“zero” confidence about the company’s supply chain.
In comparison,
e-commerce rival Temu’s representative got higher marks from the committee as
he rattled through the company’s compliance policies.
In the end, this session
will not decide whether Shein lists in the UK or not but Zhu did little to
inspire confidence and trust of UK MPs today.
