The clothing retailer Gap recently came under fire for selling a T-shirt featuring an incorrect map of China, and on Monday the company issued an apology for excluding south Tibet, Taiwan and the South China Sea from the map.
The issue gained traction on the Chinese microblogging website, Weibo, where a user said the T-shirt came from a Gap store in Canada.
+ Follow
“Gap Inc. respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China,” Gap reportedly wrote on Weibo. “We’ve learned that a Gap brand T-shirt sold in some overseas markets failed to reflect the correct map of China. We sincerely apologize for this unintentional error.”
RELATED: 12 Fashion Controversies That Sparked Passionate Debate
The brand also explained that they are “truly sorry about this unintentional mistake” and that they will implement “more rigorous reviews” in the future. In addition, Gap has pulled all shirts under fire from the Chinese market.
Twitter users shared images of the T-shirt, with a side-by-side map of China to highlight the mistake.
Recently Delta airlines, Marriott and the clothing retailer Zara saw similar criticism after listing Taiwan and Hong Kong as “countries” on their websites. They have all apologized.
Leave a Reply