(dpa) - Protests against the Chinese crackdown on demonstrators in Tibet have triggered record demand for Tibetan flags, a German online vendor of world flags said Friday.
"We've never sold so many of the same flag at one time," chief executive Bernhard Karcher of www.fahnenversand.de said in Hamburg.
He and other vendors had snapped up thousands of the flags from Taiwanese wholesalers and had had them flown to Europe because sea transport was too slow to satisfy the demand.
Clothing experts in Germany said Friday there were signs that young people in the West might adopt the flag's colours as a fashion statement with attitude.
Business people were incorporating the colours into clothing to test demand.
Politically charged symbols with a strong appeal to young people, such as a dove of peace, have shown up in fashion before.