Uniqlo faces wrath of Chinese consumers over cotton comment

Uniqlo is facing online backlash in China after the Fast Retailing's chief executive Tadashi Yanai said the clothing retailer does not source cotton from Xinjiang.

Conversations around cotton sourced from Xinjiang have been a trigger point with Chinese consumers for the past few years, given China has been accused of using forced labour by people from the minority Muslim Uyghur minority in its production.

Don't miss: UNIQLO Singapore scrubs Instagram page clean in surprise move

Since the comments, there has been an influx of hashtags around the founder’s “controversial” remarks and trending hashtags include that of Xinjiang having the best cotton in the world, and support around Xinjiang cotton.

On X, an account named Shanghai Panda with over 110,000 followers, wrote: "UNIQLO rejected Xinjiang cotton. Chinese must reject UNIQLO."

While on Uniqlo's official Weibo account, a check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw its post featuring the ANA collection garnered 987 likes and 208 comments, with some saying Chinese should boycott Uniqlo, while some said the brand should handle the PR crisis carefully. 

According to the Globe Times, China called for companies to reject political pressures and make independent decisions after a BBC report carried Yanai’s comments. "Cotton from the Xinjiang region is among the best in the world. We hope relevant company will overcome political pressure and malign disruption, and independently make business decisions that serve its own interests," Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, said.

Uniqlo is not the first company to face the wrath of Chinese consumers around the Xinjiang cotton controversy. H&M also faced similar boycotts in China where it posted a statement on its website expressing concern about the alleged forced labour in Xinjiang, adding that it would not source cotton from the area.

This saw H&M stores being removed from major eCommerce platforms and store locations being removed from Chinese apps, said a Reuters report. Nike, Puma and PVH, parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, also saw similar consequences.

Related articles:

UNIQLO marketing director Joyce Tan steps down
Uniqlo Singapore shines light on local culture as part of global campaign