Report Links Fashion giants H&M, Zara to deforestation, corruption in Brazil

Fast fashion giants H&M and Zara have used cotton from farms linked to massive deforestation, land-grabbing, corruption and violence in Brazil, a report by the environmental group Earthsight said Thursday.

Based on satellite images, court rulings, shipment records and an undercover investigation, the report, titled "Fashion Crimes," found the companies sourced "tainted cotton" farmed in the fragile Cerrado savanna by two of Brazil's biggest agribusiness firms, SLC Agricola and the Horita Group.

Despite abuses linked to its production, the cotton had been labeled as ethical by leading certification scheme Better Cotton, exposing "deep flaws" in the oversight program, said the British environmental group.

The Cerrado, the most biodiverse savanna on Earth, has been disappearing at an accelerating rate as Brazil's massive agribusiness industry has increasingly turned to the region in recent decades.

The cotton in question was farmed in the northeastern state of Bahia and shipped to eight Asian clothing manufacturers whose clients include Sweden-based H&M and Spain-based Zara, the report said.

Brazil, the world's top exporter of beef and soybeans, has also emerged as a major cotton producer in recent years, now second only to the United States.

Zara parent company Inditex and H&M said they took the allegations seriously, and urged Better Cotton to release the auditors' findings.

The Brazilian Cotton Producers' Association (ABRAPA) said it had worked with the growers in question to provide records and evidence countering the report's allegations.