NEW YORK: A mail order firm owned by movie actor Robert Redford unwittingly sold items made by a company using unpaid child labourers to make some of its products, the daily New York Post reported on Sunday.
The children reportedly are members of a controversial cult based in upstate New York called Twelve Tribes.
The daily described the sect as a racist, isolationist religious group that forces young children to work alongside their parents in its various cottage industries.
The sect produces Common Wealth wood furniture, some of which has been sold through Sundance catalogue, launched by Redford in 1989. Redford's eco-friendly company also sells clothing, organic products, other hand-crafted furniture and jewellery.
A Sundance spokesman said that the products accounted for "a very small fraction" of Sundance's overall business, which industry watchers estimate at less than $5 million.
The only Common Wealth-made item slated for sale in Sundance's upcoming catalogue has been pulled.
"We are as surprised and distressed as everyone else to learn about this and are taking steps to immediately address the issue and sever ties with this group," a Sundance spokesman said.
The daily reported that cosmetics giant Estee Lauder recently quit doing business with another Twelve Tribes business, amid questions about the age of its workers.
Twelve Tribes denied that it violates US labour laws.
"Yes, our children help their parents, but you don't have children in there being a backbone of industry or working in a factory or anything like that," Jean Swantko, the group's spokeswoman, told the Post. (AFP)