Versace China T-shirt: Donatella apologises for 'unfortunate' mislabelling
Versace has apologised for selling a T-shirt which implies Hong Kong and Macau are independent territories.
The design featured a list of well-known cities paired with their countries, in the style: “Milan-Italy”, “London-UK”.
“Hong Kong-Hong Kong” and “Macau-Macau” featured alongside these, despite both being part of China.
The mislabelling sparked substantial backlash on Chinese social media channel Weibo.
The luxury fashion label’s chief creative officer Donatella Versace has since apologised for the offending garment, calling the mislabelling an “unfortunate [...] error”.
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Meanwhile, Versace has apologised on its official Instagram account, and said it would look into “actions to improve how we operate day-to-day”.
In a further statement shared on Chinese social media account Weibo and translated by China Daily, the label also said it has removed and destroyed the mislabelled T-shirts.
The Company apologizes for the design of its product and a recall of the t-shirt has been implemented in July. The brand accepts accountability and is exploring actions to improve how we operate day-to-day to become more conscientious and aware. pic.twitter.com/5K8u3c4Dbm
— VERSACE (@Versace) August 11, 2019
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Chinese actor Yang Mi, formerly a brand ambassador for the label, announced she would be terminating her contract due to the error.
“China's territorial integrity and sovereignty are sacred and inviolable at all times,” said a statement from her entertainment company, Jiaxing Media, shared on Weibo, as reported by the BBC.
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The hashtag #YangMiStopsWorkingWithVersace had 860 million views on the platform earlier this morning, according to the publication.
This isn’t the first example of a luxury fashion brand has faced a similar backlash.
Last November, Dolce & Gabbana faced a backlash for a ‘racist’ advertising campaign circulated in China.
As a consequence, the fashion house’s catwalk show was been cancelled by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Shanghai.
