Puma CEO expects double-digit growth in China this year

Arne Freundt, the CEO of Puma, a company accused of employing slave labor, expressed that the sportswear company expects to return to double-digit growth in China this year.
According to a recent interview published by the Euro am Sonntag news source last Friday, Arne Freundt, the CEO of Puma, stated that the sportswear company expects to return to double-digit growth in China this year.
The executive stated, "We see a gradual improvement in the market environment in China, and we already expect to return to double-digit growth this year."
Freundt also added that despite the challenging market conditions, Puma anticipates a return to growth in the United States, saying, "The U.S. market is very competitive, but we are very confident that we will grow again by 2024."
CHANGING THE GEOGRAPHY BY FORCE
The Chinese communist regime, on one hand, sends the people of East Turkistan to concentration camps and, on the other hand, forces thousands of people to work for low wages in China. Additionally, they relocate Chinese citizens to East Turkistan by offering them high salaries, free housing, and fertile land for agriculture.
According to a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) published in 2020, 83 well-known Western brands worldwide were found to benefit from the forced labor of Uyghurs in their supply chains. Furthermore, significant technology companies, automobile manufacturers, footwear brands, and ready-to-wear clothing brands worldwide, including nine European companies, are also implicated in partnerships with China.
83 BRANDS EMPLOY UYGHUR FORCED LABOR
Among the 83 companies listed in the report, brands like Amazon from the United States, Germany's BMW, Bush, Mercedes-Benz, Puma, Siemens, Italy's Caddy, Sweden's H&M, Electrolux, the Philippines' Jack and Jill, France's Lacoste, and Spain's Zara are accused. While some companies with a sense of humanity may correct their mistakes, profit-driven companies continue to benefit from China's exploitation of forced labor.
However, for the closing of New York Fashion Week on September 19, 2023, fast fashion in New York City reflected the cost of real human rights on iconic structures, famous buildings, and bridges. Massive images projected onto bridges and buildings highlighted the "complicity in Uyghur forced labor" of famous clothing brands produced with the "Made in China" label.