Does Uniqlo use cotton from Xinjiang, China? What the top boss said

Uniqlo does not use cotton from China’s Xinjiang region to make its products, said Tadashi Yanai, the chief executive of Fast Retailing, the company behind the global fashion chain. “We don’t use cotton from Xinjiang,” Yanai said in Tokyo. “By mentioning what cotton we use…” he continued, but paused and concluded, “Actually, if I say anything more, it will be too political, so let’s stop there.”

Although Xinjiang cotton is among the best fabrics in the world, it fell out of favor after it emerged that the Muslim Uyghur minority was forced into forced labor to produce it, the BBC reported.

China is a crucial market for Uniqlo both from a customer perspective and as an important production location.

Strict US regulations for importing goods from the Chinese region of Xinjiang had previously come into force.

Recently, several global companies have removed products made from Xinjiang cotton from their shelves. This ultimately led to a major backlash in China, where big names like Nike, Adidas, H&M, Nike, Burberry and Esprit were boycotted.

H&M saw its clothing removed from major e-commerce stores in China.

Yanai, Japan’s richest man, addressed the issue, refusing to deny or confirm whether Uniqlo used cotton from Xinjiang. He simply said he wanted to be “neutral between the US and China.”

As a result, his decision helped the Japanese brand remain very popular in the Chinese retail market.

As Uniqlo expands its business in Europe and the U.S., Yanai said, “We are not a well-known brand globally,” adding that Asia remains its largest market.

As for the company’s presence in China, the company has more branches there than in its home country of Japan. And Yanai said he has no plans to change that strategy despite the challenges in the world’s second-largest economy.

He said that although there are 1.4 billion people in China, there are only 900 to 1,000 stores there. “I think we can increase the number to 3,000,” he added.

In addition to China, the company also produces clothing in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia.