HONG KONG – The world’s largest clothing brand, Hennes & Mauritz AB’s H&M, is under attack in China, one of the largest markets, for its stance on forced labor in the remote cotton-producing region of Xinjiang.
Chinese state media and social media users denounced the Swedish fast-fashion giant in an explosion of anger on Wednesday, accusing the company of spreading rumors and contaminating China over a statement it made last year about forced labor in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. in China.
Searches for the H & M’s name on China’s largest ecommerce platforms were blocked on Wednesday, as internet users took to China’s Twitter-esque Weibo to call for a boycott of the company, which operates more than 400 stores in China. Two of the fashion company’s Chinese brand ambassadors also announced that they were severing ties with H&M over what has been called the smearing of China.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Pinduoduo Inc. and JD.com Inc., which operates the e-commerce sites blocking H&M, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Spreading rumors of boycotting Xinjiang cotton while trying to make money in China? Wishful thinking! The Chinese Communist Youth League wrote in a post on Weibo that was forwarded nearly 30,000 times and attracted about 10,000 responses.