Topshop slammed for selling 'vegan' t-shirt featuring non-vegan recipe on the label
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Topshop's "vegan" tee is being called out for having a non-vegan recipe printed on the label. (Topshop)
Topshop has been slammed for selling “vegan” T-shirts with a recipe containing eggs and butter printed on the label.
The baby pink top – which was designed by the Tee & Cake brand for Topshop - features the word “vegan” along with a picture of a herbivorous dinosaur to promote the plant-based diet.
But inside the top is a label with a cake recipe containing a list of ingredients including “3 large eggs” and "16oz butter"– both of which would be excluded from the plant-based vegan diet.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Shoppers have taken to social media to blast the gaffe.
One Twitter user called Beck, said: “Seriously?’ A tee that advertises veganism but then come with a cake recipe that is far from vegan... missed opportunity there.”
She also asked whether the top was a jibe at vegans, adding: “If so shame on you @TeeAndCakeUK and do you really want to promote that negativity @Topshop?!”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Another, Nik Mishinzz, said: “@Topshop may want to check what vegan means! Haha.”
And a tweet by a user called James said: “We were so excited to buy this today and then saw that the label has a recipe containing 3 large eggs. Can you explain? Wtf.”
On Facebook, Crystal Barquinha wrote: “Errrrm? Butter? Eggs? Vegan? Nice one Topshop.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But in spite of the gaffe, a food awareness group has praised the shirt for making veganism mainstream.
Jimmy Pierson, director of food awareness group ProVeg UK, said: “We love Topshop’s ‘vegan dino’ T-shirts, despite the printing error on the label!
“It’s very clearly an oversight from the manufacturer, nothing more – they use this same label on every item in their range.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“More importantly, these t-shirts show just how mainstream and popular veganism has become now it’s being printed on clothes sold in one of the most well-known fashion retailers in the world!”
Veganism is one of the fastest growing lifestyles in Britain with at least 542,000 people now following a vegan diet, compared with 150,000 just a decade ago.
More than 150,000 people took part in Veganuary this year, up from around 60,000 the previous year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Mr Pierson said: “More and more people are now acting upon the health and environmental benefits of veganism, as well as becoming far more savvy about the realities of animal agriculture and deciding they do not want to contribute to the pain and suffering of animals.”
A Topshop spokeswoman said: “The T-shirt is a brand that we stock at Topshop called Tee & Cake. The label is across all of the T-shirts in the line.
“As the brand is called Tee and Cake it has a whimsical recipe in the label. The label is nothing to do with what’s on the front of the T-shirt.”
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