German fashion house Hugo Boss says it has not procured cotton from China’s Xinjiang province in a sudden u-turn, as a boycott of brands looms over Western accusations of forced labor in the region.

The brand’s Twitter-like Weibo account in China posted on Friday that it would “continue to purchase and support Xinjiang cotton.” But a spokesperson told Reuters the next day that it was not an authorized post, and had since been deleted.

The spokesperson Carolin Westermann quoted an undated English-language statement on its website in an email to Reuters, stating that “so far, HUGO BOSS has not procured any goods originating in the Xinjiang region from direct suppliers.”

Both Hugo Boss and fashion giant LVMH are members of the Better Cotton Initiative, which is the world’s largest cotton sustainability program. BCI had criticized forced labor in Xinjiang and urged members to stop using cotton from the region.

Despite being a BCI member, LVMH has not issued any statement on Xinjiang cotton. Many Chinese internet users believed that there is no need to boycott the group. LVMH owns brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Bvlgari and Céline which are popular in China.

Sports brands Nike and Adidas are among those being boycotted by Chinese consumers due to the cotton row, after the sportswear giants previously declared they were not using Xinjiang cotton. The Chinese Football Association signed a 12-year contract with Nike in 2015, and has faced calls to scrap the contract. The Chinese Super League also signed a decade-long contract with Nike in 2018.

The Chinese Football Association and the preparatory group for forming the professional league were highly concerned about the incident, and condemned the “incorrect” choice of Nike on cotton, while reserving the right to deal with the contract with Nike, Chinese news outlet The Football Newspaper reported on Saturday morning. But the report was apparently dropped a few hours later.

Some Chinese internet users have posted on Weibo that many young people were queuing to buy shoes outside the Ningbo store of the Li-Ning Chinese sports brand.

But photos from netizens showed there were only about a dozen people queuing as of 9 p.m. on Friday.

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