Supplier apologizes and recalls yet another faulty Surfers Paradise brand T-shirt with Chinese character misspelling

SINGAPORE: Earlier, there were reports of a misprinted National Day T-shirt being sold at the FairPrice Xtra outlet. The T-shirt, a part of the Surfers Paradise brand featuring the red-and-white National Day 2023 theme, appeared to have only one star instead of the intended five.

FairPrice has issued an apology for this mistake and has promptly removed the product from its stores.

The T-shirt’s designer has provided an explanation, stating that the original design had five stars. Unfortunately, the error went unnoticed until the launch of the product.

“We immediately withdrew the collection a week ago when our staff told us about it. We deeply value the accuracy and detail of our design, and this oversight does not reflect our standards.”

The designer also speculated that the vendor’s rush to meet the deadline might have contributed to the omission of one star, along with a lapse in the quality control process.

Surprisingly, netizens discovered another misprinted T-shirt from the same Surfers Paradise brand, this time containing an error in the Chinese text.

A Singaporean Facebook page known as “Xin Guozhi” disclosed on Tuesday (August 1) that in addition to the previously recalled misprinted T-shirt, another T-shirt from the same brand bore a typographical mistake in its Chinese characters.

The T-shirt in red, with a calendar motif, bears a misspelled phrase, where “国泰民安” (meaning “peace and harmony for the country and the people”) is mistakenly written as “国泰明安”.

It’s noteworthy that “民” represents people, while “明” signifies brightness, clarity, or transparency.

The Facebook post remarked, “Currently, it remains uncertain whether the budget supermarket and other retailers selling this T-shirt have detected the error and subsequently removed the product from their shelves.”

The supplier recalls the faulty product

Decks Pte Ltd, a local fashion apparel supplier, has issued an apology through Chinese media outlet Lianhe Zaobao, acknowledging any inconvenience caused by the recent error.

“Our primary focus is to ensure accurate designs and wording for our consumers, and we deeply regret falling short of this standard.”

Surfers Paradise is one of the clothing brands sold by Decks Pte Ltd.

The company also stated that they have taken immediate action by recalling all affected products and removing them from online shopping platforms.

They emphasized that Surfers Paradise has built a relationship with consumers for over two decades, and the company will provide options for refunds and product replacements to consumers who have purchased the affected items.

“Consumers who have purchased the affected items can request refunds or replacements for other equally-priced items at our stores across the island.”

Netizens raise concerns over T-Shirt manufacturer’s quality control and language proficiency

In the comments section, netizens raised questions about whether the company conducted a final check before printing the T-shirt or if the person in charge of the job lacked proficiency in Chinese.

One netizen commented, “Didn’t they verify before printing… or do they not understand that Chinese characters aren’t just about homophones… or perhaps they’re wishing for a better tomorrow… but there’s always another tomorrow…”

“This line of work definitely requires someone very meticulous.”

“If you don’t understand Chinese, at the very least, get someone to double-check!”

Another netizen shared that they had actually bought the T-shirt and didn’t even notice the typo when they looked at it in the morning, saying, “I bought it, haha, and even brought it to Taiwan. When I took it out this morning, I didn’t pay much attention.”

Some also expressed their concerns about the Chinese proficiency standards in Singapore:

“This isn’t just a simple typo, it’s about the level of our proficiency in Chinese.”

“The standard of Chinese proficiency is declining more and more.”