H&M back on Alibaba's Tmall after Xinjiang dispute
STORY: H&M is back on Alibaba’s Tmall e-commerce platform.
The news comes 16 months after the Chinese site took it down following the brand’s criticism of human rights abuses in Xinjiang province.
Now the re-opening was first noticed by Chinese users.
It was then confirmed by a Reuters search of the platform.
There was no comment from any of the firms, and it wasn’t clear what prompted the move.
Tmall and many other Chinese platforms scrubbed all mention of H&M after it was revealed that it had pledged not to source cotton from Xinjiang.
UN experts say over a million people are detained in camps there.
That’s strongly denied by Beijing.
H&M was just one of many Western brands caught up in the dispute.
Nike, Adidas, Burberry and Converse all saw Chinese celebrity ambassadors cut ties over their comments on the region.
But H&M was the only one removed to such an extent.
Since early 2021 it’s largely only been able to sell online in China via its own web site.
The Swedish giant entered China in 2007, and had more than 500 stores there by early last year.
