Vietnam Garment Makers Tied to Sanctioned Esquel Still Ship Cotton Apparel to U.S.
Three Vietnam garment makers with ties to sanctioned Chinese textile giant Esquel have shipped at least $5 million in cotton goods to the U.S. since November 2024, customs records show.
Three garment manufacturers in Vietnam with close ties to Chinese textile giant Esquel Group have continued to export cotton apparel to the United States despite Esquel's blacklisting by Washington, shipment records show.
The three makers — An Loi Apparel, Tessellation Binh Duong and Tessellation Hoa Binh — have together sent at least $5 million in cotton goods to the U.S. since November 2024, when Esquel was named a listed entity under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The designation authorizes U.S. customs officers to presume Esquel's goods are produced with forced labor unless proven otherwise.
Esquel, which describes itself as a "seed to shirt" enterprise, denies allegations of forced labor links in China's Xinjiang region. The company has a long history of operating in Xinjiang, where U.S. authorities say Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been subjected to forced labor programs. China rejects those allegations as baseless.
The connections between the Vietnamese makers and Esquel extend beyond a shared supply chain. All three used geographical variations on the name Esquel Garment Manufacturing Vietnam until they were rebranded in October 2022. Edgar Tung, who served as Esquel's chief executive between 2021 and 2022, was listed in corporate filings as an owner's representative at the three makers, and the same three offshore firms owned them before and after the renaming.
Tung became CEO of Tessellation Group in January 2023, after Esquel spun off its consumer brands and technology operations into that entity. Tessellation Group's senior executives include Dee Poon, the Harvard-educated daughter of Esquel chairperson Marjorie Yang. Neither Esquel Group nor a representative for the Vietnamese makers responded to requests for comment.
Customs data show that Esquel sent about 70% of the $34 million in cotton it exported from China between November 2024 and June 2026 to the three garment makers. The manufacturers also source from other entities, and industry practice often involves blending cotton from different origins, according to supply-chain experts and trade lawyers.
It could not be established whether the products shipped to the U.S. contained cotton produced by Esquel or grown in Xinjiang, which accounts for roughly 20% of global cotton production.
The apparel was made for brands including Japanese retail giant Muji and New Zealand menswear label Rodd & Gunn, both of which confirmed sourcing from the Vietnamese makers. Muji USA has sourced apparel from at least one of the garment makers since it operated under the Esquel Garment Manufacturing name. Both companies said they were unaware of any links between their suppliers and Esquel Group. Muji said it plans to audit one of the plants this year and that its suppliers have signed a pledge against forced labor. Rodd & Gunn said it requires partners to source exclusively from the U.S., Brazil and Australia and collects documentation to verify the chain of custody. Neither company said whether it planned further action.
A former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative, Joshua Kagan, now an attorney at Washington firm Kelley Drye & Warren, reviewed the findings and said the connections are "likely sufficient" for customs authorities to conclude the manufacturers operate within Esquel's ecosystem.
A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which enforces forced labor sanctions, did not comment on the findings but said the agency encourages companies to either remove suppliers that use forced labor or require them to change their practices.
Enforcement under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act has drawn scrutiny. Between November 2024 and June 2026, CBP detained roughly $2.6 million of the $28 billion in apparel shipped from Vietnam to the United States for inspection under the law. More than half of the detained goods by value were subsequently released. In a letter to CBP leaders in December 2025, Democratic lawmakers said inspections have "dropped drastically."