H&M Returns to Alibaba's E-Commerce Platform After 16-Month Absence

By Clarence Leong

H&M is back on sale at an e-commerce platform run by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., 16 months after the Swedish fashion brand was taken down from the site following its decision to stop sourcing from China's Xinjiang region.

Hennes & Mauritz AB has reopened its official store on Tmall, Alibaba's flagship shopping platform, but continues to be absent from many other websites run by Chinese companies, including Baidu Maps and consumer-review website Dianping.com.

In March last year, H&M was wiped off the country's leading e-commerce, ride-hailing, daily-deals and map applications and sites as the Xinjiang decision sparked a backlash among consumers. H&M had said in 2020 that it was no longer sourcing from the region, a major cotton producer, because of allegations that forced labor was being used there. Other apparel companies, including Nike Inc. and Puma SE, have also been affected by fallout from the consumer boycott.

Beijing has denied all allegations of human-rights violations in Xinjiang.

The Swedish company said in April this year that it was still struggling with the fallout from the boycott by consumers. It also had to close some stores as Covid-19 outbreaks swept the country.

H&M Chief Executive Helena Helmersson said at the time that the company was in talks with several stakeholders in China to try to improve the "complex situation."

H&M's official account on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform hasn't posted any updates since the end of March.

Neither H&M nor Alibaba immediately returned Dow Jones Newswires' requests for comment.

Write to Clarence Leong at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 16, 2022 03:04 ET (07:04 GMT)

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