The boss of the company behind global fashion chain Uniqlo has told the BBC that the Japanese company does not use cotton from China's Xinjiang region in its products.
This is the first time Fast Retailing CEO Tadashi Yanai has directly addressed this contentious issue.
China is a crucial market for Uniqlo, not only for its customers, but also as a major production hub.
Xinjiang cotton was once known as one of the finest fabrics in the world.
But it fell out of favor after revelations that it is produced through forced labor by members of the Uyghur Muslim minority.
In 2022, strict US regulations on the importation of goods from Xinjiang came into effect.
Many global brands have removed products using Xinjiang cotton from their shelves, sparking fierce backlash in China. Brands such as H&M, Nike, Burberry, Esprit and Adidas have been boycotted.
Sweden's H&M has had its clothing removed from major e-commerce stores in China.
At the time, Mr Yanai – who is Japan's richest man – refused to confirm or deny whether Xinjiang cotton was used in Uniqlo clothing, saying he wanted to “be neutral between states -United States and China.
Its decision not to take sides has allowed Uniqlo to remain popular in China's huge retail market.
But speaking to the BBC in Tokyo about steps the company is taking to be more transparent about where the materials used in its clothes come from and how they are made, he said: “We don't let's not use (Xinjiang cotton).”
“By mentioning what cotton we use…” he continued, before pausing and ending his response with “Actually, it gets too political if I say more so let’s stop there.”
Isaac Stone Fish, managing director and founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused business intelligence firm, highlights the pressures on Chinese and American companies.
“No big company can remain politically neutral anymore,” he says.
“Beijing and Washington want businesses to choose sides, and Tokyo will continue to move closer to the United States in this matter.”
Although Uniqlo has expanded aggressively in Europe and the United States, in Mr. Yanai's own words, “we are not a globally known brand” and Asia remains its largest market .
The company has more stores in China than in its home country of Japan, and Mr. Yanai says he has no plans to change that strategy despite the challenges facing the world's second-largest economy.
“There are 1.4 billion people in China and we only have 900 to 1,000 stores,” he says. “I think we can increase that to 3,000.”
Meanwhile, China is Uniqlo's largest manufacturing hub. The company also manufactures clothing in countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia and India.
In 2009, when 80% of its products were made in China, Mr Yanai told the BBC that China was becoming too expensive and the company was moving production “to Cambodia, where wages are lower, to keep prices low.
He now says it was difficult to repeat China's success as a global factory in other countries because transferring years of experience proved difficult.
Retailers like Uniqlo also face intense competition from ultra-fast fashion, as brands like China's Shein and Temu gain popularity among price-conscious customers.
But Mr. Yanai says: “I don’t think there is a future for fast fashion.”
“They produce clothes without any consideration, which we only wear for one season. It's a waste of the planet's resources.”
He adds that Uniqlo's strategy is to focus on essential items that can be worn for years.
During the 40 years he ran the company, Mr. Yanai grew the business he inherited from his father from a business with an annual turnover of about 100 million yen ($656,700; $656,700; £522,400) to a global chain with 3 trillion yen. income this year.
The 75-year-old says he aims to overtake Inditex, owner of global chain Zara, as the world's largest fashion retailer before retiring.
But to achieve this, Uniqlo must expand not only in China, but also in the West, where shoppers are increasingly aware of human rights issues, such as forced labor.
Mr. Yanai's ambitions could also face more obstacles as Donald Trump returns to the White House pledging to impose much higher tariffs on goods made in China.
