The noise was deafening and air in the factory in northern Gujarat was so thick with cotton dust it was like a snowstorm at night. Women and girls, some no more than 10 or 11, fed machines with raw cotton picked from the nearby fields...Some estimates put the number of cotton child workers in India as high as half a million...None of the retailers we contacted agreed to be interviewed on this issue. But Arcadia, owner of outlets such as Top Shop, BhS and Miss Selfridge, issued a statement [and so did Marks and Spencer: text of their statements available]