Two designs in total were removed from the English version of Spreadshirt.com, a Leipzig-based company that allows users to design and sell their own T-shirts on its site, one of them reading "Save a shark, eat a Chinese."
However, the shirts, and similar designs from the same vendors, were still for sale on Spreadshirt's German-language site as of press time.
A T-shirt that reads "Keep Calm and eat a Chinese" is also still for sale on its English website.
Spreadshirt users Quentin1984 and Monigote thought it would be a good idea to create shirts that are offensive to Chinese people, according to yomyomf.com, a website that explores Asian American issues, the Huffington Post reported Tuesday.
The company received many messages of disapproval on social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook from users angry at the slogans.
"You need some new jokes and get a fact checker. Your business is full of shit! Oh, sorry, I ate the 'r'", Twitter user Wayne Liu tweeted at Spreadshirt's official account.
Twitter user Clint Cheng said: "Since when we need resort to #racism for animal protection?"
"This is the designer's work which doesn't represent our company," a Spreadshirt spokesperson told the Global Times Wednesday. "This is simply humor, though it is in poor taste it is not linked to racism. Allowing the designer to release this T-shirt is free speech," she added.
This article appeared originally in the Global Times.
