Luxury fashion brands Coach and Givenchy have apologized for making perceived affronts to China’s national sovereignty with T-shirts listing Hong Kong and Taiwan as separate nations, one day after Versace apologized for a T-shirt that implied Hong Kong and Macau were independent.
Images of a Coach T-shirt from last year that said Taiwan and Hong Kong were not part of China provoked anger online.
Givenchy was outed for a similar offence: a black T-shirt that listed Taiwan and Hong Kong separately from cities in China.
Photo: AFP
All three firms have tried to minimize the damage over the mistakes that cost them their high-profile Chinese brand ambassadors.
Coach yesterday said that it had found the “serious inaccuracy” in May last year and had immediately pulled the T-shirts from all its global channels.
It “deeply” regretted the design, it added.
“We also reviewed our assortment to ensure compliance, and have strengthened our internal product development process to avoid the occurrence of a similar issue in the future,” it said. “Coach respects and supports China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The brand corrected its Web site as well, after Chinese users shared screenshots online showing Hong Kong in a “find by country” drop-down list.
Givenchy’s apololgy on Sino Weibo also reiterated its respect for China’s sovereignty, and said the brand “resolutely upholds the one China principle.”
Chinese model Liu Wen (劉雯), Coach’s brand ambassador, said she was terminating her work with the brand over its T-shirt blunder.
“I apologize to everyone for the damage that I have caused as a result of my less-careful choice of brand!” she wrote on her official Sino Weibo account in a post that was “liked” hundreds of thousands of times.
“At all times, China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity are sacred and inviolable!” she wrote. “I love my motherland, and I steadfastly safeguard China’s sovereignty.”
Jackson Yee (易烊千璽), a hugely popular singer in boyband TFBoys (加油男孩), also pulled the plug on collaborating with Givenchy after pictures of the brand’s controversial T-shirts were criticized.
As of yesterday afternoon, Skin care brand Fresh, sportswear maker Asics and fashion designer Calvin Klein all apologized on their Chinese social media accounts for similar Web site designs that reconized China-claimed regions as independent nations.
Foreign brands are under increasing pressure from Chinese consumers and regulators to fall into line on issues surrounding Chinese sovereignty and its territorial claims.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS