Chinese brand apologises for ‘welcome to hell’ children’s t-shirt after backlash

‘Welcome to hell. Excuse me? Who are you welcoming?’ a buyer slammed the design on Chinese microblogging site, Weibo

Controversial pieces from JNBY’s children’s clothing line (Weibo/@Hi早安Hi晚安)

Chinese clothing brand JNBY has apologised following backlash over a children’s t-shirt with the phrases “let me touch you” and “welcome to hell”.

‘Just Naturally Be Yourself’ or JNBY responded to customer complaints after a mother’s post about the item in question went viral online.

BBC News reported that the woman’s family brought the piece for her four-year-old son without realising what was printed on it.

She allegedly wrote on Chinese social media app Weibo: "Welcome to hell. Excuse me? Who are you welcoming?"

Subsequently, JNBY buyers began sharing photos of other controversial pieces of clothing manufactured by the Hong Kong-listed brand.

One Weibo user reportedly posted a picture of black coat that had the image of a person being shot with arrows, and text that read: “The whole place is full of Indians. I will take this gun and blow them to pieces."

JNBY issued an apology on the Chinese photo-sharing app Xiaohongshu amid customer complaints about “inappropriate prints” emblazoned on the brand’s children’s clothing line jnby by JNBY.

The label said its designs were driven by the brand’s philosophy of “freedom of imagination” and that it wanted to create “unique” styles.

“But we also understand that what’s most important is to pass on good values,” JNBY added, promising to fuse “innovative and creative designs with good values” in the future.

The Global Times reported that the pieces in question have since been removed from JNBY’s online shop.

According to the publicly-listed company’s prospectus, there were 1,316 JNBY retail stores globally as of June 30, 2016. That number rose to 1,931 stores by the end of last year.

The company’s total revenue in the first half of fiscal year 2021 stood at $356 million, according to a Business of Fashion report.