H & M Cuts Ties with Chinese Supplier

The Swedish clothing brand has showed that it has more integrity and courage than the NBA (stolen from a popular Twitter comment on the topic, admittedly).

Swedish clothing giant H&M said on Tuesday it was ending its relationship with a Chinese yarn producer over accusations of “forced labour” involving ethnic and religious minorities from China’s Xinjiang province.

The fashion retailer specified that it did not work with any garment factories in the region and that it would no longer source cotton from Xinjiang, which is China’s largest cotton growing area.

A report by think tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), published in March, pointed to H&M as one of the beneficiaries of a forced labour transfer programme through their relationship with the dyed yarn producer Huafu’s factory in Anhui.

However, H&M said in a statement that it had never had a relationship with the factory in Anhui, nor Huafu’s operations in Xinjiang.


H&M did concede that it has an “indirect business relationship with one mill” in Shangyu in Zhejiang province, belonging to Huafu Fashion.



“While there are no indications for forced labour in the Shangyu mill, we have decided to, until we get more clarity around allegations of forced labour, phase out our indirect business relationship with Huafu Fashion Co, regardless of unit and province, within the next 12 months.”


The company also said it had conducted “an inquiry at all the garment manufacturing factories we work with in China aiming to ensure that they are not employing workers … through what is reported on as labour transfer programmes or employment schemes where forced labour is an increased risk.”


International pressure is building on China’s ruling Communist Party over its actions in the resource-rich Xinjiang region, and on Monday the European Union pressed China to let its independent observers into Xinjiang, binding human rights to future trade and investment deals with Beijing.

Rights groups say over a million Uygurs languish in political re-education camps, which Beijing describes as vocational training centres where education is given to lift the population out of poverty and to chisel away at Islamic radicalism.


China says criticism of its handling of Xinjiang is politically motivated, and based on lies about what happens in the vast facilities it has built.


On Monday US customs said it would bar a raft of Chinese products including cotton, garments and hair products, from Xinjiang over fears they were made using forced labour.

China on Tuesday slammed the US move as “bullying” and dismissed accusations of forced labour as “a complete fabrication”.

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3101696/hm-cuts-ties-chinese-supplier-over-xinjiang-forced-labour

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Nice pivot.

But what do you think about China using the forced labor of Uighur political prisoners?

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Deserves its own post.

(I raised this several years ago)

@philokalia said
Nice pivot.

But what do you think about China using the forced labor of Uighur political prisoners?

Your opening post doesn't present anything for discussion so I guess anything would be a "pivot".

What is the point you want to debate?

@philokalia said
The Swedish clothing brand has showed that it has more integrity and courage than the NBA (stolen from a popular Twitter comment on the topic, admittedly).

[quote]Swedish clothing giant H&M said on Tuesday it was ending its relationship with a Chinese yarn producer over accusations of “forced labour” involving ethnic and religious minorities from China’s Xinjiang provi ...[text shortened]... scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3101696/hm-cuts-ties-chinese-supplier-over-xinjiang-forced-labour

So H&M has so much "integrity and courage" that they will take 12 months to drop their business relationship with Huafu, a relationship that they are admittedly benefiting from.

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LOL... desperately trying to deflect from chinese slavery.

Lets change the subject to china creating a biological weapon and releasing it on the world.

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I see you didnt dispute the Uyghurs being slaves.

Do you not want to talk about chinas biological weapon release?

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(1) I have not presented any opinion on prison labor in general because I have never actually researched it. I'd love to see a new thread on US prison labor and you could fill it with information that would help me make up my mind on it.

WOlfgang59 would be another great candidate for starting it -- as he says,

it deserves its own thread

(2) Of course there would be Uyghurs who committed crimes and are rightfully being punished for them -- crimes that are not political.

(3) Do you deny that there is mass incarceration of Uighurs for the purpose of advancing Chinese Communist Party interests -- and that some of these people are being forced to perform labor against their will for the profit of the Chinese government?

Because that would be interesting. I'd love to hear that argument.

Or, would you like to pivot back to the USA again?

@philokalia said
(1) I have not presented any opinion on prison labor in general because I have never actually researched it. I'd love to see a new thread on US prison labor and you could fill it with information that would help me make up my mind on it.

WOlfgang59 would be another great candidate for starting it -- as he says,

it deserves its own thread

(2) Of c ...[text shortened]... interesting. I'd love to hear that argument.

Or, would you like to pivot back to the USA again?

“ I'd love to see a new thread on US prison labor and ”

Each state is different. I can provide info on ADOC (Alabama). That was my career. I can tell you in AL ALL prison labor is voluntary.