The boy told the Newspaper he had been sold to a factory owner by his family. Gap, which has made commitments in the past not to use child labour, said that only one item - a girl's smock blouse - was involved. The boy said he had made to work for four months without pay and was not allowed to leave the job until the fee his family had received was repaid.

Dan Henkle, a spokesman for Gap, said: "We were made aware earlier this week that a reporter had found an incident of children working in a factory that was producing for one of our brands, and this is completely unacceptable to us. "We have a strict prohibition on child labour, and we are taking this very seriously. This is very upsetting and we intend to investigate thoroughly." Gap said the smock blouse will not be offered for sale in the company's 3,000 stores around the world, Gap said, and instead will be destroyed.