H&M, a Swedish clothing and cosmetics sales group, issued a statement in March this year to cooperate with the West in spreading rumors and slandering China’s Xinjiang cotton, refusing to cooperate with any clothing manufacturing in Xinjiang, China, on the grounds of so-called “forced labor” Factory collaborations also do not source products and raw materials from the region.
This farce of Western clothing companies boycotting raw materials is essentially one of the political methods used by the United States to suppress industries in Xinjiang, China, with extremely sinister intentions. Nearly four months have passed. How is the Xinjiang cotton that has been boycotted by clothing companies such as “H&M” now?
Recently, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded at a regular press conference:
What the United States needs to do most is to seek truth from facts. Reflecting on its own serious human rights issues, attacking and smearing other countries under the guise of forced labor, no matter what packaging or excuses are used, the essence of lies and rumors cannot be concealed, and they are destined to fail.
What I also want to tell you is that the painstaking efforts to smear and suppress Xinjiang cotton have made the white and high-quality Xinjiang cotton known to more consumers, making it more in short supply, and further becoming the brand of Xinjiang. An important business card for agricultural products.
In other words, this farce of boycotting Xinjiang cotton has not only failed to harm Xinjiang’s agricultural products, but has also skyrocketed the reputation of Xinjiang cotton, making the white and high-quality Xinjiang cotton more popular in the market. .
As a “leading bird”, what has H&M gained after experiencing this boycott?
Sales data in the financial report released by H&M show that it lost approximately US$74 million in sales last quarter. The main loss in the second quarter came from the Chinese market, with sales falling 28% from US$263 million to US$189 million.
According to the “Wall Street Journal” report, the Chinese market, which originally accounted for the third place in H&M’s global total revenue (the top two were the United States and Germany), It has dropped to 6th place.
As the epidemic situation in Europe and the United States eases, many H&M stores have reopened, and sales in the second quarter have increased significantly around the world. But in China, the largest and most active market, H&M’s business has shrunk severely.
On the surface, H&M’s global sales growth is enough to make up for the loss of its sales in China, which dropped from US$263 million to US$189 million. As we all know, China is the first and fastest country in the world to restore economic vitality. If H&M operates normally, its performance in the Chinese market will usher in a bumper harvest in the spring of 2021. However, China has experienced a serious decline in H&M’s performance. This is a major blow to it. H&M is losing its most promising supermarket. H&M President Helena Helmerson said the company is still in trouble in China. In addition to some closed stores, 10 major Chinese stores are still closed. However, she refused to comment further and stopped talking about issues such as “human rights” and “values”.
Several other fashion brands, including Zara owner Inditex SA, have deleted or modified their online statements about China’s Xinjiang, while H&M is actually still Insist on boycotting Xinjiang cotton.
In March this year, it was revealed that H&M Group had issued a statement last year boycotting Xinjiang cotton. This statement triggered an earthquake in public opinion. Faced with the strong dissatisfaction of Chinese netizens, H&M not only failed to apologize, but instead argued that the relevant actions “do not represent any political stance.”
Once the incident was exposed, subsequent search results on Taobao and Tmall APPs showed that all searches for “H&M” or “HM” had no results and were blocked and removed from the shelves. In addition, other e-commerce platforms are no longer able to search for “H&M” stores and products.
To this day, H&M stores and products are still off the shelves on major e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and JD.com, and searches show zero. There are about 10 of them in mainland China. The store is closed. Such a result is purely self-inflicted.
In addition to closing stores, H&M has also been caught in a “storm of public opinion” several times in China where it has been subject to administrative penalties due to product quality issues.
According to investigations, from June last year to May this year, H&M was found to have 9 batches of dyes for children’s clothing containing harmful substances that may be absorbed by the body through the skin, mouth, etc. , harmful to health.
Moreover, according to Tianyancha data, since 2021, HM has been administratively punished 5 times in total. The products it produces and sells are adulterated and fake, and fakes are passed off as genuine. There are still The problem of shoddy goods. He was ordered to make corrections, his illegal gains were confiscated, and he was fined a total of more than 600,000 yuan.
When will H&M hit the streets in the Chinese market? But its conspiracy to harm China’s Xinjiang cotton will never succeed, and Xinjiang will definitely get better and better!
H&M’s sales in China dropped by only one-third, and they said they were in trouble. How can that be enough? How can it live up to its values if it has not dropped by 90%? </p
