Walmart Accepts Clothing from Banned Factory

Walmart (Bentonville, Ark.) has been receiving apparel such as sports bras and girls’ dresses from a Bangladesh factory the retailer claims it “barred from producing its merchandise,” according to U.S. Customs records as well as the Financial Post (financialpost.com).

Last month, Walmart released a list of more than 200 factories that it had barred due to safety problems or labor violations, among others. Despite this, the retailer has reportedly been receiving apparel from two of the factories on the notorious blacklist.

Mars Apparels (Chittagong, Bangladesh), in particular, had been barred from producing the retailer’s goods for almost two years, yet its most recent shipment to the company was in late May, the Financial Post reports. Simco Dresses, another banished manufacturer, was barred in January 2013 but continued shipping items to Walmart Canada until March.

Kevin Gardner, a Walmart spokesman, claims that the shipments were allowed because Mars Apparels, for example, did not produce clothing with a Walmart tag, but instead a Fruit of the Loom label, the Financial Post reports. Thus, Gardner claims, it is unclear whether the manufacturer must adhere to Walmart’s standards or Fruit of the Loom’s.