• Since Dolce & Gabbana’s chopsticks ad debacle, a string of fashion and luxury players have apologised, and pulled products, after angering web users in China
• Most were accused of not respecting China’s territorial integrity for selling clothing or running websites that suggested Hong Kong and Taiwan were countries

12 months ago Dolce & Gabbana was forced to cancel its first fashion show in Shanghai after an advertising campaign in which a Chinese model struggles to eat Italian food with chopsticks drew widespread accusations of racism.
The Italian fashion house also apologised for leaked messages, allegedly sent by co-founder Stefano Gabbana, that were derogatory about China.
The brand said Gabbana’s account had been hacked, and the label later released a video apology on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform to offer their “sincerest apologies to Chinese people worldwide”.
But the damage was done. Retailers in mainland China and Hong Kong stopped selling its products, and the brand is still struggling to salvage what is a vital market for luxury.
Chinese consumers accounted for at least a third of global spending on luxury products last year, according to Bain & Company, a management consulting company. And this year, China overtook the US as the largest fashion market in the world, according to a recent report by management consultants McKinsey & Company and website The Business of Fashion.
Dolce & Gabbana is not the only luxury label to land in hot water with China, however. Since November 2018 several other international brands have found themselves in trouble for offending internet users in the world’s second largest economy.

In the case of the National Basketball Association (NBA), one ill-judged tweet in support of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong by the Houston Rockets team general manager Daryl Morey threatened to undermine the sports franchise’s business in China, now worth more than US$4 billion according to Forbes. The NBA’s apology, however, led to a backlash in the United States against its perceived kowtowing to Beijing.
Earlier this month, London-based art and design college Central Saint Martins’ fashion and textiles foundation programme apologised for reposting Instagram stories featuring “racist” student artwork and projects on its official account.
One of the student banners, which critics said resembled the Chinese Qing dynasty flag and braid, had the words “F*** Fast Fashion”, “Made in China” and “£0 worth” on it. Another banner displayed popular Hong Kong protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times”.
Foreign fashion firms doing business in China have also had to offer apologies after coming under fire on Chinese social media for appearing to question China’s territorial sovereignty. Here are eight of those who committed such fashion faux pas.