Gap strictly prohibits the use of child labour.

The Gap Inc. clothing company has responded to an investigation by the UK’s Observer newspaper, which reported that a single product of GapKids clothing had been made by children at a facility in India.

In a statement released by Gap Inc., the retailer says that a ‘very small portion of a particular order was apparently subcontracted to an unauthorised subcontractor without the company’s knowledge or approval’.

Mark Hansen, President of Gap North America, stated: “We strictly prohibit the use of child labour. This is non-negotiable for us – and we are deeply concerned and upset by this allegation. As we’ve demonstrated in the past, Gap has a history of addressing challenges like this head-on, and our approach to this situation will be no exception.

“As soon as we were alerted to this situation, we stopped the work order and prevented the product from being sold in stores…Gap Inc. has one of the industry’s most comprehensive programmes in place to fight for workers’ rights overseas. We will continue to work with the government, NGOs, trade unions, and other stakeholder organisations in an effort to end the use of child labour.”

Gap states that there was a direct violation of the company’s agreement with the vendor under its Code of Vendor Conduct. The company has 90 people located around the world who have the dedicated role of ensuring absolute compliance with the code, and has previously stopped business with 23 factories because of such code violations.

Gap has now launched a full investigation.