Canada Goose faces boycott in China over the arrest of Huawei CFO

Shares in Canada Goose plunge as Chinese consumers call for boycott of the luxury clothing retailer amid fury over the arrest in Vancouver of Huawei CFO and subsequent detention of two Canadians in Beijing

• Stocks of the apparel brand fell nearly 20 per cent since Meng Wanzhou’s arrest
• Calls for a boycott of brand’s winter jackets and parkas spread on social media
• Canada Goose is scheduled to open its first Beijing flagship store on Saturday 
• Huawei exec was released on bail of C$10 million (US$7.4 million) on Tuesday  

Luxury clothing retailer Canada Goose has become the first Canadian brand to bear the brunt of China’s consumer outrage following the arrest of a high-ranking Huawei executive, state media said.

Calls for a boycott of the Toronto-based apparel brand in China spread quickly on social media platform Weibo and were echoed by experts cited by state-run Global Times. 

Stocks of the retailer, popular for its trendy parkas and high-end winter jackets, tumbled nearly 20 per cent over the past four days since Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou’s arrest in Vancouver on December 1. She was granted bail on Tuesday evening following three hearings.

Canada Goose parkas, which retails up to £995 apiece, have quickly become a style icon in China since the brand launched in the country last year. The company’s first flagship store in Beijing is scheduled to open on Saturday following the launch of the first one in Hong Kong in October.  

Calls for a boycott of the Toronto-based apparel brand in China spread quickly on social media platform Weibo and were echoed by experts cited by state-run Global Times. Pictured above is one of the brand’s boutique store at a shopping mall in Shanghai

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, arrives at a parole office with a security guard in Vancouver after she was released on bail on Tuesday evening 

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 ‘Boycott Canada Goose! Release Ms Meng!’ comments posted onto the company’s official Weibo account read. 

‘Leave China!’ another user commented. 

‘I was going to purchase one of your jackets, but after everything that Canada has done, I will never buy a jacket from your brand. I’m not boycotting your company, it’s just that I would feel embarrassed wearing your products!’ another user said. 

The hashtag, ‘Canada Goose shares plummet’, has gathered more than 220 million views as Chinese consumers called for the ban  in the world’s largest luxury market.

MailOnline has reached out to Canada Goose for comment.   

Canada Goose parkas, which retails up to £995 apiece, have quickly become a style icon in China since the brand launched in the country last year

Supporters hold signs and Chinese flags outside British Columbia Supreme Court during the third day of a bail hearing for Meng Wanzhou. She was released on bail for C$10 million

Business activities are always affected by changes in politics and the economy, Liu Ying, a research fellow at Renmin University of China, told Global Times, adding that Canada, as a sovereign state, should not have intervened in the matter surrounding Meng.

Meng was detained in Vancouver on December 1 at the request of the U.S., which accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

She is the vice chairman of Huawei, the second-largest smartphone creator in the world and the daughter of the company’s founder, Ren Zhengfei.

After three days of hearings, Meng was released on bail of C$10million (US$7.4million) on Tuesday evening – on the condition she surrender her two passports and agree to wear an ankle bracelet. She will have to stay in Vancouver and its suburbs and confine herself to one of her two Vancouver homes from 11pm to 6am. 

In apparent retaliation of Meng’s arrest, an ex-Canadian diplomat, Michael Kovrig (pictured), has been detained in China since Monday and is facing accusations of harming state security

A second Canadian, Michael Spavor (pictured), a businessman with deep ties to the North Korean government, has been detained for ‘activities that endanger China’s national security’ 

Her case has set off a diplomatic furore among the three countries and complicated high-stakes U.S.-China trade talks. 

In apparent retaliation, a former Canadian diplomat, Michael Kovrig, has been detained in China since Monday and is facing accusations of harming state security. 

A second Canadian, Michael Spavor, a businessman with deep ties to the North Korean government, has been detained also for ‘activities that endanger China’s national security’, Beijing confirmed on Thursday. 

Following the arrest of Meng, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau maintains that Canada’s involvement in the case is not politically motivated and that the incident is for Canada’s courts to decide.   

Canadian Foreign Ministry spokesman Guillaume Bérubé said in a statement that the authorities are working hard to ascertain Spavor’s whereabouts and would continue to raise the issue with the Chinese government.

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