How firms linked to Chinese cotton giant shirk sanctions to sell clothes to US
The three garment makers together have exported at least $5 million in cotton goods to the US since Esquel was sanctioned. Details of the firms' US sales haven't been previously reported.
In July, a ton of cotton shirts unloading at the port of Los Angeles originated from a garment manufacturer closely linked to Chinese textile giant Esquel Group, according to shipment records. The company, Esquel, was banned from selling to US customers in November 2024 due to alleged links with forced labor programs in China's Xinjiang region.
Esquel and three Vietnamese garment makers—An Loi Apparel, Tessellation Binh Duong, and Tessellation Hoa Binh—continued sourcing cotton and selling products to the US after being blacklisted. All three manufacturers used geographical variations of the name Esquel Garment Manufacturing Vietnam before rebranding in October 2022. Edgar Tung, Esquel's CEO between 2021 and 2022, was listed as an owner's representative at the three makers.
While Reuters could not determine if the products shipped by the Vietnamese makers contained cotton from Esquel or Xinjiang, it is industry practice to blend cotton from different sources. Esquel Group's consumer brands and tech operations were spun off into Tessellation Group, with senior executives including Dee Poon, the daughter of Esquel chairperson Marjorie Yang.
The three garment makers have exported at least $5 million in cotton goods to the US since the sanctions were imposed, though their US sales had not been previously reported.
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