The Xinjiang cotton issue explained: Why shoppers in China are boycotting Burberry and H&M

Here's more on the rupture between consumers and big-name clothing brands

Western clothing brands are being boycotted in China because of cotton made in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. Unsplash

Consumers in China are boycotting Burberry, H&M, Nike, New Balance and Tommy Hilfiger over the issue of these brands no longer using cotton made in the Xinjiang region in their products.

Several well-known western brands began removing Xinjiang-produced cotton from their supply chains in 2020 after allegations were made that forced labour was being used in the cotton fields of China's western region.

In July 2020, the outdoor clothing company Patagonia declared that it was “actively exiting the Xinjiang region”, while the Gap group (that also owns Banana Republic and Old Navy) banned suppliers from using Xinjiang cotton. In September 2020 western companies began demanding suppliers stop using any cotton from China, as it could not be guaranteed it wasn't from Xinjiang. Brands such as H&M and Nike released statements expressing "concern".

In one of his last acts as US President in January 2021, Donald Trump blacklisted 87 per cent of Chinese cotton, effectively halting the sale of one-fifth of the world's supply of cotton, and four-fifths of China's output. On March 23, the UK, Canada, America and the EU all imposed sanctions on China.

These acts have sparked a wave of pro-China, pro-Xinjiang support from domestic consumers. The hashtag "I support Xinjiang cotton" has had more than four billion views. The state broadcaster CCTV accuses foreign brands of "earning big profits in China but attacking the country with lies at the same time".

H&M has faced the strongest criticism. Chinese consumers have declared a boycott of H&M and the brand has been removed from the e-commerce sites of Tmall, Taobao, Pinduoduo and JD.com. Its shopping app is no longer available on Vivo, Huawei, Xiaomi or Tencent.

The Swedish company has been removed from the navigational tools AutoNavi, DianPing and Baidu, while the taxi hail service Didi no longer allows customers to book a car to visit one of its stores.

Meanwhile, Chinese celebrities have distanced themselves from western brands, with Adidas alone losing 20 high-profile celebrities, including Jackson Wang and Eason Chan, who was with the company for more than 10 years.

Zhou Dongyu has severed her brand ambassador role for Burberry, which has also had its clothing removed from one of China's biggest video games, Honour of Kings, just days after announcing it would be dressing the characters. Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, Converse, Calvin Klein and the Japanese company Uniqlo have all faced similar criticism from consumers in China.

With China poised to become the world's biggest retail market, the share prices of affected companies fell as the scale of the loss from the Chinese market became apparent. Nike shares dropped by 3 per cent, while Burberry fell by 4 per cent. H&M, meanwhile, fell by 2 per cent.

On the flip side, the Chinese company Li-Ning has seen its shares jump 10.74 per cent on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, after listing the use of Xinjiang cotton on its clothing labels.