AN Indonesian clothing company has been forced to apologise for printing sexist washing labels advising owners to "give this shirt to a woman. It's her job".

The instructions are for shirts made by Salvo Sports for the Indonesian Super League football team Pusamania Borneo. Salvo claim they were issued in response to "a number of buyers who ask how to treat fine jerseys".

They issued a series of tweets today, on International Women's Day, apologising, after being inundated with complaints on social media.

But the apology seems to highlight a few assumptions about gender-based roles, saying, "the message is simple. Instead of doing it the wrong way, you might as well give it to a lady because they are more capable."

They went on to tweet: "It was not meant to demean women. Instead, we're trying to tell men to learn from women how to take care of clothes."

"Not all men know how to treat their clothes and women have more expertise.

"But we apologise for any misinterpretation so apologise profusely."