H&M Returns to Tmall After Prolonged Xinjiang Cotton Controversy
SHANGHAI — After being canceled over the Xinjiang Cotton controversy, H&M quietly returned to Tmall, China‘s leading e-commerce platform owned by Alibaba.
According to local media outlets, the shop officially relaunched this Monday. The “HM Official Flagship Store” maintained its 14 million subscriber base. A 39.9 renminbi, or $5.88, men’s white T-shirt became an instant bestseller on the site, with more than 100 pieces already sold.
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It remains unclear what prompted H&M’s return to Tmall. Both H&M and Tmall declined to comment on the lifting of the ban.
The Swedish fast-fashion giant first launched its official Tmall store in 2018. After refusing to use Xinjiang cotton because of forced labor allegations in the region last March, the brand faced an intense boycott and was scrubbed off Tmall, JD.com and Pinduoduo. The store remains unsearchable on the latter two e-commerce sites, and its store listings remain delisted from online maps and Dianping, the Chinese version of Yelp.
According to the company’s financial filings, sales in China plunged 39 percent year-over-year to 1.789 billion Swedish Krona, or $171.98 million, in the fourth quarter of 2021.
With prolonged lockdown measures and persistent consumer backlash, H&M closed its first and largest flagship in Shanghai this June. The brand currently operates 381 brick-and-mortar stores, a drop from more than 500 doors in early 2021. The brand also operates an official website in the market.
H&M “is in a complex situation and not obviously on the level that we would have wished for,” said chief executive officer Helena Helmersson of the situation in China this June.
Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Puma and Uniqlo were some other brands that faced intense boycotts over the Xinjiang Cotton controversy, but H&M was the only brand to be extensively banned online.
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