The China Cotton Association regrets the statement made by the Uniqlo CEO.

The China Cotton Association has urged relevant enterprises to restart using cotton from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and has expressed remorse over recent remarks made by the CEO of the company that makes Uniqlo."We are looking forward to relevant companies actively responding to the concerns of Chinese consumers and industry organizations, resuming the use of cotton from Xinjiang, and taking practical actions to maintain the health and stability of the global cotton textile industry," the organization stated in a statement.The remarks come after a recent BBC story that quoted Tadashi Yanai, CEO of Uniqlo's parent business, Fast Retailing Co Ltd, as saying that the fast fashion brand doesn't utilize Xinjiang cotton in its goods.In the past, Uniqlo has stated that it does not reveal the source of its raw materials and has affirmed that its manufacturing processes have not changed recently. A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded by expressing the expectation that pertinent businesses would make autonomous business decisions that are in line with their own interests while fending off political pressure and excessive meddling.One of Uniqlo's most important markets is still China. With 1,032 locations nationwide, including 926 on the Chinese mainland, China is Uniqlo's largest market in terms of both store count and revenue, coming in second only to Japan.

However, the company's earnings growth has slowed. Uniqlo China reported a 9.2 percent increase in revenue to 677 billion yen ($4.5 billion) in the fiscal year 2024 (September 2023 to August 2024), while operating profit increased by 0.5 percent to 104.8 billion yen. In 2025, the company expects operating profit margins in China to slightly improve along with more revenue and profit growth. It intends to open 60 new stores nationwide in fiscal 2025, as opposed to 54 new openings and 53 closures in fiscal 2024.