Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a surprise order: all Giant bicycles, parts, and accessories manufactured in Taiwan would be detained at American ports. The reason? Evidence of forced labor practices, including debt bondage, wage withholding, abusive working conditions, and excessive overtime.
For those unfamiliar with the cycling industry, Giant isn’t some small player. They are the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer with over $2.3 billion in annual revenue. They’re the white label manufacturer for many of the well-known brands you see racing around France in July. That’s exactly what makes this revelation so crazy. That, and it’s 2025, not 1925.
What Happened
The customs investigation was triggered in part by the groundbreaking investigative work of Danish journalist Peter Bengtsen, who interviewed over 200 migrant workers across Taiwan’s bicycle industry. What he uncovered was systematic: migrant workers from Southeast Asia were charged between $3,200 and $6,700 in recruitment fees. That’s a lot here, but in Vietnam it’s nearly four years of income. It was “borrowed” at crushing interest rates by mortgaging family homes. Once in Taiwan, these workers faced debt bondage, trapped by financial obligations they couldn’t escape while earning wages barely sufficient to survive, let alone repay their loans.
This wasn’t an oversight. According to CBP, “Giant profited by imposing such abuse, resulting in goods produced below market value and undercutting American businesses by millions of dollars in unjustly earned profits.” In other words, this was a strategic business decision that allowed Giant to maximize profits and unfairly compete with manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe who protect their workers.
What We Often Take for Granted
This caused us to pause. We live in a part of the world where practices like debt bondage are not just frowned upon, they’re illegal and actively prosecuted. Workers in Western countries have voices, protections, and recourse. They’ve got social media and lawyers, lots of lawyers. They can speak up. They can organize. They can leave abusive situations.
The migrant workers in Taiwan’s bicycle factories had none of these protections. As Bengtsen documented, language barriers, fear of retaliation and deportation, passport confiscation, lack of legal knowledge, and crushing debt kept them silent. Workers told him they had to “endure these punitive conditions to avoid losing their jobs and facing deportation, as such debts would be unmanageable in their home countries.”
Culture Without a Compass
Just eight months before the Customs order, Giant’s newly appointed CEO, Phoebe Liu, made a public statement about the company’s values. Taking over from her father, she pledged to “deepen Giant Group’s cultural roots” and create “an inclusive workplace culture by enhancing communication channels, supporting employee development, and creating an open and inclusive work environment.”
Beautiful words.
This is what happens when organizational culture lacks a genuine moral compass. Giant could say all the right things about employee welfare and corporate responsibility while simultaneously profiting from practices that amount to modern slavery. The disconnect between stated values and actual behavior wasn’t a small gap. It was a gap bigger than the one Pogaçar would put into us racing up Alpe d’Huez.
What Real Culture Looks Like
Now, I know some readers might be thinking: “But U.S. companies aren’t perfect either. There’s plenty of exploitation here too.” And you’re not wrong to be skeptical. There are certainly American organizations that cut corners, treat workers as expendable, and prioritize short-term profits over people.
But here’s what we see every day in our work: there are also many U.S. companies that genuinely share the cultural priority of people. Organizations with true purpose and guiding principles. Companies where “do the right thing” is more than a slogan. You can look at the logos of our clients on our website, and you’ll see them represented. These organizations succeed not in spite of treating workers well, but because of it. They understand that sustainable competitive advantage doesn’t come from exploiting the vulnerable; it comes from building genuine trust, engagement, and shared purpose.
When your culture is authentic, you don’t need customs agents to tell you something’s wrong. You know it in your bones. Your leadership wouldn’t tolerate it. Your systems would catch it. This is the standard we see in the best organizations, and it’s what sets them apart not just morally, but competitively.
An Industry’s Reckoning?
Giant isn’t alone. Following the customs order, Merida, another Taiwanese manufacturer that owns 35% of Specialized and is one of the world’s largest bike makers, immediately announced it would implement a zero-fee recruitment policy and create a reimbursement plan for workers who had already paid fees. The speed of this response tells you everything you need to know, they knew these practices were problematic. They simply hadn’t been forced to change until now.
Bengtsen’s investigative work revealed that this wasn’t one bad actor. According to his reporting in Le Monde diplomatique, debt bondage is “the rule, not the exception” across Taiwan’s bicycle industry. Workers at Merida reported having their passports confiscated. At Giant, employees shared photos of overcrowded dorms with 16-20 beds crammed into single rooms, infested with rats. Many described punitive management tactics, including fines, threats, and deportation for workers who complained.
The same investigative reports flagged numerous other companies supplying some of the world’s major cycling brands. This was an endemic problem for those in the industry who choose to manufacture in this part of the world.
The Bottom Line
This story is a powerful reminder that organizational culture isn’t what you say in press releases or post on your website. It’s what you do when no one’s watching. It’s the decisions you make when profit and principle are in tension. It’s whether your values are a true compass or just wallpaper.
For those of who lead teams and build organizations here in the US (and Europe), we should recognize our good fortune to operate in systems that protect workers and give them voice. However, we should also recognize that this protection creates not only legal compliance but also genuine ethical leadership.
When culture is real, when values are lived rather than performed, you don’t need investigative reporters or customs agents to tell you you’ve lost your way.
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Culture Edit Podcast:
Ep. 108 – 129 Miles and Socks Deep Dive
In this one-on-one episode, Nikki and Chad recap Chad’s 50th Birthday weekend, 129 on 29, the difference between runners and cyclists (when it comes to sock choice), how Swiftwick is superior, Apple’s new AirPod live translation, and the Bad Bunny half-time debate.