How firms linked to sanctioned Chinese cotton giant sell clothes to U.S.

Tessellation, a garment factory in Vietnam's Hoa Binh province on Sept. 8 | REUTERS

Sep 26, 2026

HANOI/HONG KONG – In July, a ton of cotton shirts was unloaded at the port of Los Angeles after a trip from southern Vietnam.

The apparel had come from a garment manufacturer closely related to Chinese textile giant Esquel Group, shipment records show. Esquel has effectively been banned from selling to U.S. customers since November 2024, when Washington sanctioned the company over alleged links with forced labor programs in China’s Xinjiang region. Hong Kong-based Esquel denies the allegations.

Since Esquel’s blacklisting, three garment makers in Vietnam have continued to source much of its cotton while also selling products to the U.S., the records show. The three manufacturers all had ties with Esquel that ran beyond a shared supply chain: All three used geographical variations on the name Esquel Garment Manufacturing Vietnam until they were rebranded in October 2022.

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