Owns brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Warner’s, Olga and True & Co.
Licenses brands such as Michael Kors and Kenneth Cole New York.
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The move marks a new effort by Beijing to fight back against allegations from western officials and human rights activists that goods in the region have been produced using forced labour from the Uyghur ethnic group.
An investigation into how forced-labor-produced cotton and cotton-based goods from the Uyghur Region wend their way into international supply chains. Based on international trade and customs data, the report concludes that at the same time as Xinjiang cotton has come to be associated with human rights abuses and to be considered high risk for international brands, China's cotton industry has benefited from an export strategy that obscures cotton's origin in the Uyghur Region.
China is by many measures now the world’s largest economy, and in the wake of this boycott, major global apparel companies including Inditex and PVH have removed policies against forced labor from their websites. So far these companies are in the minority, but they own global brands such as Zara, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein. As long as there is a market for goods sourced from the Uyghur region, the Chinese government will be emboldened to keep operating the mass detention camps where Uyghur people are being held in indentured servitude.
Last week, calls for the cancellation of H&M and other Western brands went out across Chinese social media as human rights campaigns collided with cotton sourcing and political gamesmanship. Here's what you need to know about what's going on and how it may affect everything from your T-shirts to your trench coats.