Products that bear the "1989" logo of U.S. pop superstar Taylor Swift's clothing brand continues to be sold in China despite speculation from Western media that the product line might be banned due to its political undertones.
An employee of the Shanghai office of Heritage 66, the company that claims to have the exclusive authorization from Swift to sell her line of clothing tailored to Chinese customers, confirmed with the Global Times on Monday that the company hasn't received any notice to remove the collection.
"It's simply not true," said the staff in response to speculation that the merchandize would be blocked for political reasons.
The collection's male and female lines are also available on JD.com, one of China's largest online retailers.
Her album, 1989, is available on many online websites including JD.com and Tmall.com.
Tickets to Taylor's world tour in China in November are being sold on Chinese ticketing websites such as damai.cn. The websites said most of the tickets had been sold out, with only a few seats remaining in the VIP area.
Western media had speculated that the Grammy winner's product line would be blocked in China, citing some items in her US collection featuring a "politically sensitive" slogan "T.S.1989."
"T.S.1989," with "T.S." standing for the singer's initials and 1989 standing for her birth year and for her live tour and album, could also be interpreted as a reference to "Tiananmen Square" in 1989, reported the Guardian and other foreign media in July.
"The forthcoming China tour could be jeopardized given the sensitive nature" of the reference, said the report.
Swift has sold over 40 million albums as of this year and won seven Grammy Awards. She is considered one of the top five music artists with the highest worldwide digital sales, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry based in the United Kingdom.
