Esquel Group () is a Hong Kong-based textile and apparel manufacturer. It is the world's largest woven shirt maker, producing about 100 million shirts annually. Esquel supplies textile to companies such as Li Ning,

ANTA Sports Anta Sports Products Limited is a Chinese sports equipment multinational corporation headquartered in Jinjiang. It is the world's largest purely sports equipment company by revenue and third-largest manufacturer of sporting goods overall, behind ...

, Fila, Giordano, Muji. Its head office is in (海港中心),

Wan Chai Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area nort ...

History

The family owned business was founded in 1978 by family patriarch . The opening of China that year had according to one of Yang's daughters led to the decision to establish the company.

U.S. sanctions

In July 2020, the

United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for busi ...

placed a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Esquel Group on the

Bureau of Industry and Security The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce that deals with issues involving national security and high technology. A principal goal for the bureau is helping stop the proliferation of weapo ...

Entity List The Entity List is a trade restriction list published by the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), consisting of certain foreign persons, entities, or governments. Entities on the Entity List are subject to U ...

for alleged use of forced labor of

Uyghurs The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghur ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

. In July 2021, Esquel filed a lawsuit in the

United States District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a United States district court, federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States Dist ...

against the U.S. government seeking removal from the Entity List. In August 2021, Esquel was removed, with conditions, from the Entity List by the inter-agency End-User Review Committee, which is composed of representatives from the U.S. Departments of Commerce, State, Defense, Energy, and Treasury. Several weeks later, Esquel resumed its lawsuit after failing to reach an agreement with the U.S. Commerce Department regarding the timetable for removal and the specifics of the conditions for removal.

Facilities

Most of the company's manufacturing facilities are in China. Its operations in China like the rest of the

textile industry in China The textile industry in China is the largest in the world in both overall production and exports. China exported $274 billion in textiles in 2013, a volume that was nearly seven times that of Bangladesh, the second largest exporter with $40 billion ...

have faced the constant pressure of rising labor costs and stricter environmental regulation. The company has strategy of upgrading or opening new facilities with better automation to counter the competitive pressure of rising wages. This strategy was noted by the '' South China Morning Post'' as different from some other competitors which sought to diversify operations by moving to other countries with lower labor costs.

References

{{Authority control Textile companies of Hong Kong 1978 establishments in Hong Kong