Anta Sports pulls away from BCI
Chinese sports group Anta announced in late March that it had taken initial steps towards withdrawing from Geneva-based body Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), which campaigns for increased production and consumption of more sustainable cotton.
Anta’s stance was revealed via an official Weibo (a form of China-based social media similar to Twitter) post, issued amid escalating tensions in China following the resurfacing of a statement made last year by fast fashion giant H&M.
The fashion group published its comments last year after BCI ceased all field-level activities in Xinjiang province in October, on the back of suspending its licensing and assurance operations there last March.
Along with several other non-Chinese brands, including Nike, H&M is currently arousing public ire in China after the Communist Youth League reportedly posted screenshots of the Swedish organisation’s original statement to Weibo. This came in the wake of a recent coordinated effort by the European Union, United Kingdom, United States and Canada to impose sanctions on Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses, linked to cotton, against the Uyghur minority group in Xinjiang.
In the face of public pressure inside China, Anta released its own statement on March 24, voicing its “serious” concerns about BCI’s October 2020 announcement (the English version of which is no longer available on BCI’s website), which, as sportstextiles.com reported at the time, cited “sustained allegations of forced labour and other human rights abuses” in the north-western region.
“We have been purchasing and using cotton produced in China’s cotton-producing areas, including Xinjiang, and we will continue to purchase and use Chinese cotton in the future,” Anta said in the Weibo post.
Anta further underscored its original motivations behind becoming a BCI member in July 2019: “The original intention behind the partnership was to promote environmental protection and the sustainable development of the supply chain from the perspective of global and regional environmental welfare, so that the planting and production of cotton in various regions of the world will be more beneficial to cotton farmers and the environment.”
BCI reportedly has around 2,100 members worldwide, of which nearly 500 are from China. The body's Shanghai representative office has reiterated comments it made at the beginning of the month. In an official statement on March 26, the Shanghai office said it strictly abides by BCI audit policy and had never discovered a single case of forced labour.
According to recently published data, Anta Sports raked in approximately $5.45 billion in revenue in 2020, up 4.7% on the previous year.
On March 26, sportstextiles.com asked BCI for its reaction to the Anta announcement. BCI said it was preparing a statement for release in the coming days.
Image: Anta Sports via Instagram.
