Princess Eugenie has unveiled a new campaign targeting the exploitation within counterfeit fashion supply chains, just days after her mother Sarah Ferguson faced renewed scrutiny over ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
The campaign, titled 'Hidden Threads: Fake Fashion - A Human Rights Scandal,' was launched by The Anti-Slavery Collective, a charity co-founded by Eugenie and her childhood friend Julia de Boinville in 2017. The initiative aims to expose forced labour, child labour and human trafficking in the production of fake goods, from market stalls to unregulated factories.
Announcing the project on Instagram, Eugenie said: 'Behind fake handbags, trainers or football shirts, evidence shows some of the worst abuses, including forced labour, child labour and human trafficking.' She attended the launch in New York, coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week.
The princess added: 'Fake fashion fuels modern slavery, and The Anti-Slavery Collective is determined to confront and challenge it. There are 28 million people today who are forced to work in dangerous and exploitative industries for little or no pay.'
The announcement comes after a leaked 2011 email emerged showing the Duchess of York referred to Epstein as a 'supreme friend' weeks after publicly denouncing him. As a result, seven charities have dropped Sarah Ferguson as a patron, including the British Heart Foundation and Teenage Cancer Trust.
