China Retaliates Against Clothing Brands After Western Sanctions

The clothing brand H&M has come under a sudden, intense storm of criticism in China over a statement it made more than half a year ago, where it distanced itself from cotton sourced from China's Xinjiang region.

Major online retailers in China have pulled H&M products from their sites or mobile apps. Two Chinese celebrities have already severed deals with the Swedish brand. Chinese state media outlets are now calling out other Western clothing brands — including Nike, New Balance and Burberry — for not using Xinjiang cotton.

"Pure and flawless Xinjiang cotton cannot allow any forces to smear or blacken it," a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said Thursday.

The calls for boycott come only days after the European Union, United Kingdom, U.S. and Canada jointly sanctioned four Chinese individuals and entities for alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

H&M's woes stem from a statement the group posted last September in which it expressed concern over allegations of forced labor in Xinjiang and said it would not tolerate forced labor in any of its supply chains.