Amazon Sellers Linked To Labour Abuse In Pakistani Factories: Report
A new investigation by human rights group Labour Behind the Label has uncovered serious labour rights violations in supplier factories in Pakistan linked to fashion products sold by third-party sellers on Amazon’s UK marketplace.
Researchers traced products sold by three UK-based Amazon sellers to Pakistani factories where workers reported being paid below minimum wage, forced into excessive hours without contracts, payslips, or access to social security. One worker, Hussain, employed by a supplier to Amazon seller Ice Cool Fashion, earns just £95.50 a month working 10-hour days well below the legal minimum. “We are barely surviving on such a salary,” he said. “We are living hand to mouth.”
The report criticizes Amazon for failing to ensure that third-party sellers comply with basic labour standards, despite third-party fashion sellers making up the bulk of Amazon’s offerings. Researchers warn that Amazon’s marketplace model gives small, often unregulated fashion brands access to vast consumer markets without adequate oversight, enabling exploitative practices to thrive.
“Amazon’s monopoly is built on hidden exploitation,” said Anna Bryher, Policy Lead at Labour Behind the Label. “Forced labour products are just a few clicks away for UK shoppers. Amazon’s business model must stop harbouring risk and start opening supply chains to public scrutiny.”
With an estimated 87 million fashion products for sale on Amazon UK and 28 million Britons buying fashion online in 2024, the scale of the issue is vast. Many of these products come from suppliers with little to no transparency or labour rights protections.
The report calls on Amazon to publicly disclose seller supply chains, enforce mandatory human rights standards, and commit to joint action to provide remedies where abuses occur.
Labour Behind the Label says Amazon’s current practices risk fuelling a race to the bottom in global fashion supply chains prioritizing profit over worker welfare and transparency.
