Chinese celebrities dump Coach, Givenchy over mislabeling

Chinese celebrities have ended their contracts with fashion houses Coach and Givenchy on Monday for selling clothes that mislabeled Hong Kong and Taiwan as separate countries. 

Both brands featured a design - a list of cities and countries - that listed Beijing and Shanghai as part of China, but not Hong Kong or Taiwan. On Sunday, Italian fashion brand Givenchy apologized on Chinese and foreign social media after images of its misprinted T-shirt began circulating on Sina Weibo micro blogs. 

Chinese model Liu Wen said on her official Sina Weibo account that she had terminated her contract with Coach and strongly condemned the fashion house for hurting the feelings of the Chinese people. Liu just became Coach’s brand ambassador on July 26. 

“I want to apologize for the harm caused to everybody due to my indiscreet selection of brand to represent,” she said. “I love my country, and will adamantly safeguard China’s sovereignty. National sovereignty and territorial integrity are sacred and cannot be violated under any circumstances.”

On Monday noon, the studio of Chinese singer-actor Jackson Yee, known as Yiyang Qianxi, said in an online statement on Sina Weibo that the star had terminated his cooperation with Givenchy Beauty, the fashion brand’s perfumes and makeup line. 

“We are extremely angry at Givenchy for designing clothing that suspected of damaging China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the statement reads. “We have stopped all cooperation with Givenchy. Mr. Yee and his studio resolutely upholds the one-China principle, and adamantly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” 

By Monday afternoon, Coach and Givenchy apologized on Sina Weibo, saying they were sorry for the misprints and negligence. The two brands also reiterated their respect for Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity. 

Coach said it will remove the offending clothes from all its retail channels around the world, improve internal product supervision and correct mistakes on their websites. Givenchy also promised to correct its mistakes, but did not disclose any details.