In an official statement sent to foreign media on Friday (March 26), a spokesman for the headquarters of German apparel brand Hugo Boss said that they “have not purchased any products directly from Xinjiang so far”.
Later, Hugo Boss’ official Communist Party Weibo account deleted its statement from as early as Thursday (25) that it would continue to purchase and support Xinjiang cotton, and attached an official statement from the headquarters in English and Chinese.
Chinese domestic public opinion has accused Hugo Boss of being two-faced, and some netizens have vowed to boycott the brand.
Since Swedish clothing brand H&M was rehashed by the Chinese Communist Youth League microblogging account last year’s rejection statement on Xinjiang cotton, sparking a wave of boycotts, a series of international brands such as Nike, Adidas and Burberry have been involved.
Hugo Boss China on Thursday (March 25) in the first Time after the incident, chose to make a statement in support of Xinjiang cotton on Twitter. “Xinjiang long-staple cotton is one of the best in the world, we believe that high-quality raw materials will definitely realize the value and will continue to purchase to support Xinjiang cotton.” The posting said.
This posting was quickly reported and praised by the Chinese Communist Party media. But then, China’s Observer.com questioned whether Hugo Boss’ official website outside of China had still not removed its membership in the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and its support for the Xinjiang issue. BCI) and its statement on the Xinjiang issue.
Hugo Boss’s Chinese Weibo account posted a new official statement on Friday (26), with a link to the English version of the statement. At the same time, the earliest statement issued on the 25th was removed on the grounds that it was not an authorized post.
The new statement says that “we are committed to respecting human rights, recognizing the fundamental values of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the core conventions of the International Labor Organization, and will not tolerate any form of forced, compulsory labor,” standards that apply to Hugo Boss’ global suppliers and are inspected by them.
The statement added: “We value our long-standing relationships with our partners across China. To date, Hugo Boss has not purchased any products directly from the Xinjiang region. We will re-verify that our new collection meets our global standards starting in October 2021. In response to the allegations, we want to make sure that we only use cotton or other materials in our products that are in line with our values and standards.”
Carolin Westermann, a spokesman for the company, told Reuters that the English-language statement was the official company position.
On Saturday (27), Hugo Boss’ Chinese Weibo account issued a new statement saying it cherished all its long-standing relationships with Chinese partners. However, at least three Chinese stars have dropped their endorsement partnerships with Hugo Boss.
A statement from the World Uyghur Congress said they have seen “some companies begin to succumb to Chinese [Communist Party] threats and remove their [response] policies on forced labor from their websites, even going so far as to promote their websites with ‘Xinjiang cotton,’ which is reportedly produced by Uyghurs under forced labor. produced under forced labor.”
“This is the ultimate moral test for these companies: to choose to respect human rights or to support the genocidal regime of the Chinese Communist Party.” The World Uyghur Congress said.
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