Another day, another fashion brand inadvertently offending an entire country. Luxury fashion label Versace made headlines today after they started flogging a printed t-shirt which classified Hong Kong and Macau as countries completely separate to China.
The t-shirt in question features a list of cities and respective countries, including Milan – Italy, Paris – France, and Sydney – Australia. It also incorrectly features Hong Kong as a city belonging to the country ‘Hong Kong’ and Macau as a city in the country ‘Macao.’
Hong Kong and Macau are technically part of China, however they are ‘special administrative regions’ of the country and possess a high degree of autonomy.
Chief creative officer Donatella Versace has since apologised for the mistake, writing in a statement, “I am deeply sorry for the unfortunate recent error that was made by our company and that is being currently discussed on various social media channels.”
“Never have I wanted to disrespect China’s national sovereignty and this is why I wanted to personally apologise for such inaccuracy and for any distress that it might have caused,” she wrote.
Versace has stopped selling the t-shirt and destroyed all the ones that hadn’t been sold, but the damage may have already done. Chinese actress and brand ambassador Yang Mi has severed ties with the brand, telling her Weibo followers that she’s ending her contract with Versace over the issue.
“China’s territorial integrity and sovereignty are sacred and inviolable at all times,” Yang’s statement reads. “As a company of the People’s Republic of China and Yang Mi as a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, we are deeply offended.”
“It is the duty of all Chinese citizens to uphold the “One China” principle and adamantly safeguard national unification.”
The offensive t-shirt has hit the headlines at a particularly sensitive time. According to CNN, this is the “10th straight weekend of sometimes violent protests” in Hong Kong over a bill which would allow the extradition of fugitives to countries or territories that Hong Kong has no extradition agreements with, including mainland China.
Sadly, it’s not the first time a fashion label has become involved in the drama. In 2018, Gap apologised for a t-shirt printed with a map of China excluding Taiwan, “Southern Tibet” and the South China Sea. The same year, Zara and H&M were called out for a similar gaffe when the brands listed Hong Kong and Taiwan as countries.
To make matters even worse for Versace, they also spelled ‘Brussels’ on the t-shirt as ‘Brussells.’ Stay tuned for another apology to Belgium for this one.