Last year, the online fashion retailer Shein asserted that it had found instances of child labor and minimum wage violations in its supply chain. Now, with the company considering a £50 billion listing on the London Stock Exchange, activists are calling on the UK government to stop it in its tracks out of fear for the company’s questionable ethics.

Shein is an online fashion retailer that has gained immense popularity, but it has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The Chinese-founded, Singapore-based online fashion retailer has admitted to finding cases of child labor and factories failing to pay a minimum wage to workers in its supply chain. Such disclosure formed part of Shein’s sustainability report in 2023, a critical time when the company hopes to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange.

Here’s what’s been going on: Shein, a brand famously known for trendy, pocket-friendly clothing, is making an attempt to drum up a colossal £50 billion by listing its shares on the London Stock Exchange. This plan is sure to suffer from scrutiny. Workers’ rights activists and groups have expressed skepticism toward the transparency and ethics of Shein and have urged the government of the United Kingdom to not allow this listing. In particular, they believe that Shein’s practices might be subpar within its supply chains.

The British Fashion Council (BFC) also said it had concerns. They remarked that the potential listing could be “a significant concern” for the fashion industry, as there is a question over how Shein controls its suppliers and the working conditions of the people that make its clothes.

This has now been confirmed by an investigation, which has thrown up some shocking issues for this Swiss organization. Workers at factories that produce Shein garments were determined to work more than 70 hours a week. There have been allegations of forced labor in people from the Uyghur region of China, who are said to be put through these bad conditions. Third, Shein has many lawsuits against it for stealing designs from other brands.

Earlier this year, Shein planned to list its shares in New York, but this move was temporarily halted after US lawmakers expressed similar concerns about its labor practices and legal issues. However, the company is now reported not to have faced formal opposition in the UK about the matter. Reports suggest Shein filed its papers for the London Stock Exchange listing in June and won the backing of the Labour party just before the July election.

It’s been working to rectify the issues, Shein told BuzzFeed News. The firm revamped its policies for suppliers last October. “If we find a supplier using child or forced labor now, we will terminate the such a case immediately, its contract,” Shein added. This revamping was done on the pretext of advice it had received from regulators, and suppliers.

It then temporarily suspended orders from known Chinese suppliers for 30 days while they resolved the matter. The suppliers had 30 days to address the issue at the time if they intended to streamline business with Shein, the company claims not to have engaged the suppliers until they corrected their processes.

According to Shein’s report, they closed their child labour cases as soon as possible. That is, by terminating the contracts with the child worker immediately, delivering his unpaid wage, undergoing medical checkup, and sending them back to parents or guardians. They allow the suppliers to work again after reformulating these deviations.

Shein’s report also stated that approximately 0.5% of its China suppliers did not pay workers at least the local minimum wage or delayed wage payments. Shein said it addressed issues like that immediately and worked with suppliers to remedy mistakes.

As Shein gears up for its £50 billion float on the London Stock Exchange, it is also considering selling shares to its customers—a tactic first tried by the delivery company Deliveroo, before its ill-fated flotation in 2021.

Now, the spotlight is on Shein, putting in practice its ambitious moves and threading on the complex problems involving the implementation of ethical practices in business. The public and investors around the world are waiting to see what this company says and, more importantly, does. Will Shein clean up its act and proceed with its plans, or will such controversies derail its ambitions? Time will only tell.