H&M, BCI cut ties with Xinjiang business Huafu

STOCKHOLM – Swedish clothing giant H&M has announced it is ending its relationship with Chinese yarn producer Huafu Fashion over accusations of “forced labour” involving ethnic and religious minorities from China’s Xinjiang province. The fast fashion company claims it does not work with any garment factories in the region and will no longer source cotton from Xinjiang – by far China’s largest cotton growing province and an area which produces almost one fifth of global organic cotton.

H&M said in a statement it had never had a relationship with the factory in Anhui, nor Huafu’s operations in Xinjiang. H&M did say that has an “indirect business relationship with one mill” in Shangyu in Zhejiang province.