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 New Balance, Under Armour,
Tommy Hilfiger and Converse, owned by Nike, have
come under fire in China for statements that
they would not use cotton produced in the
farwestern Chinese region due to suspected
forced labour.
Activists and U.N. rights experts have accused
China of using mass detainment, torture, forced
labour and sterilisations on Uighur Muslims in
Xinjiang. China denies these claims and says its
actions in the region are necessary to counter
extremism.
At least 27 Chinese movie stars and singers have
declared in the past two days that they would
stop cooperating with foreign brands.
Their decision was widely praised by Chinese
internet users for being patriotic and trended
high on the popular Twitter-like microblog Weibo.
"I have bought these kinds of products in the
past and this situation doesn‘t mean that I will
now throw them away, destroy them or something
like that," said graduate Lucy Liu outside a
Beijing shopping mall.
"What I'll do is just avoid buying them for the
moment."
Some of the brands are members of the Better
Cotton Initiative, a group that promotes
sustainable cotton production which said in
October it was suspending its approval of cotton
sourced from Xinjiang, citing rights concerns.
Among the celebrities who ended their pacts with
foreign brands were a few Uighur artists.
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 Other brands affected include
Burberry, Adidas, Puma, H&M and Fast Retailing's
Uniqlo.
"I can confirm that Uniqlo's Chinese brand
ambassadors have terminated their contracts,"
said a Fast Retailing spokesperson.
"Regarding cotton, we only source sustainable
cotton and this has not changed."
The other companies did not immediately respond
to Reuters requests for comment.
Hong Kong pop singer Eason Chan said on Weibo
that he would stop cooperating with Adidas and
he was "firmly against all actions that tarnish
China".
The post has been liked by nearly 800,000 Weibo
users.
"I know you won't let us down!" one of them
wrote. "I'm from Xinjiang."
Student Wang Xue, 21, visiting Beijing, said she
liked to buy comfortable clothes that made her
happy.
"As long as they (these brands) are not
insulting China, then I'm okay with them," she
said. "But if they are, then I will definitely
boycott them."
(Reporting by Ryan Woo and Beijing newsroom;
Editing by Nick Macfie)
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