After Versace, Coach apologizes for mislabeling HK, Taiwan as countries on T-shirt

Just one day after the Versace T-shirt controversy, American luxury brand Coach has also found itself facing backlash from Chinese consumers over a similar gaffe.

A Coach store [File Photo: IC]

In the wake of the Versace apology, Coach on Monday issued its own apology for mislabeling Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Taiwan as countries on one of its T-shirt designs, according to a report by The Beijing News.

The apology came after some Chinese netizens posted photos of a Coach T-shirt on Weibo early Monday. The item features a similar-to-Versace list of "CITY – COUNTRY" on the back, with dozens of pairs like "BEIJING – CHINA" "CHICAGO – UNITED STATES" and the wrongly-labeled "HONG KONG" and "TAIPEI - TAIWAN."

A screenshot shows Coach's statement posted on its official Twitter account on Monday. [Photo: China Plus]

Coach published its statement later on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Weibo saying it is fully aware of the severity of the error and deeply regrets it. "In May 2018, we found a serious inaccuracy in the design of a few T-shirts. We immediately pulled those products from all channels globally," the statement reads. Coach said it respects and supports China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Meantime, Coach's brand ambassador, Chinese supermodel Liu Wen, said Monday on Weibo that she would terminate her collaboration with the brand as it "seriously hurts the Chinese people's feelings."

Coach's former brand ambassador, Chinese supermodel Liu Wen [File Photo: VCG]

The T-shirt design is reportedly one of Coach's collection done in partnership with Disney.

On Sunday, Italian luxury brand Versace apologized for mislabeling Hong Kong and Macau as countries on one of its T-shirt designs.