Global retailers, including H&M, Esprit and Adidas, are facing scrutiny over cotton supplies sourced from Xinjiang, a Chinese region plagued by allegations of human rights abuses. China is one of the world’s top cotton producers and most of its crop is grown in Xinjiang. United Nations experts and human rights groups say China is holding more than a million Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in vast detention camps where they are made to learn Mandarin Chinese, swear loyalty to President Xi Jinping, and criticise or renounce their faith. China says those people are attending “vocational training centres” which are giving them jobs and helping them integrate into Chinese society, in the name of preventing terrorism. Japanese retailers Muji and Uniqlo attracted attention recently after a report highlighted the brands used the Xinjiang-origin of their cotton as a selling point in advertisements. Multiple high street retailers have said to be at the end of supply chains involving cotton products from Xinjiang, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation.

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