On-line purchasing behemoth Shein will spend $15 million on upgrades to its suppliers’ factories, the corporate introduced in the present day. The information follows a UK documentary report that discovered employees had been topic to lengthy hours and that wages had been withheld, in accordance with The Guardian.

Shein says that, by an unbiased audit, it found that employees at two factories in China had been working 12.5- and 13.5-hour-long days — greater than is legally permitted by native legislation. Whereas it’s “considerably lower than claimed within the documentary,” the e-commerce big is giving factories till the tip of the yr to right the issue, Shein says.

The corporate denied reviews that wages had been withheld from employees.

The $15 million will probably be spent over the subsequent three to 4 years, in accordance with the corporate, and can cowl “bodily enhancements” to provider factories. Shein says it’ll additionally enhance the frequency of unannounced spot checks and bolster trainings for factories to make sure compliance with legal guidelines and laws. Shein didn’t specify what sort of enhancements can be made or how they might profit employees at factories.

Shein’s never-ending stream of quick-turnaround product releases and discount bin costs catapulted the corporate to a $100 billion valuation earlier this yr, although that has possible dropped since. The corporate is certainly one of a number of on-line retailers that took quick trend and put it into overdrive, making clothes and niknaks quicker and cheaper than manufacturers like Zara or H&M. Shein hauls — unboxing and try-on movies of tons of of {dollars} value of product — are a mainstay on platforms like TikTok regardless of reviews of labor violations, design theft, and the environmental affect of buying from the corporate.