Woman thought husband was having affair after finding mysterious message written in Doncaster Primark store pants

Abbie Bowman discovered mysterious gold lettering in a pair of her husband's boxer shorts after she washed them - and when she realised it was an address, she suspected he may have been up to no good.

But after confronting her husband Paul and taking to Google, believing the writing might also be a cry for help from a worker in one of the firm's global manufacturing plants, Primark has told her that the scrawl is a fabric marking reference routinely used by clothes manufacturers.

The 28-year-old, who bought the underwear from the firm's branch in Doncaster Market Place believes it may be a cry for help from a factory worker in Bangladesh

She told The Sun: “I bought them at the start of August for my partner and after I had washed them and hung them on the washing line I noticed this address that was written inside the pants on the thigh in gold permanent marker.

“For about a day I was trying to figure out what it all meant. There was a number at the bottom some I Googled it and it brought up and address in Bangladesh.

“I thought it might have something to do with where they made the pants.

“I spent what felt like all day and all night Googling it and found out other people had reported messages inside clothes they had bought from Primark.

“I emailed Primark and initially made light of things, but they just emailed back to apologising and telling me they would send me an envelope so I could send them pants back.”

In her email, she wrote: “Dear Primark. Last week I came in to your Doncaster branch and purchased a set of three black authentic apparel boxer shorts.

“Upon washing them I noticed it’s an address written in some brown/gold pen.

“After smacking him [Paul] in the mouth as I thought he might have been having an affair and it was some other woman’s address. Turns out when I Googled it its an address in Bangladesh.

“Is this one of those cries for help from those little stitchers you’ve got slapping wanders together for five pence a pop or is it something else?

The reply from Primark read: “Dear Ms Bowman. I am in receipt of your email with thanks.

“I was extremely sorry to learn of your experience with underwear purchased at our store and I would like to sincerely apologise for the upset and inconvenience caused to you both on this occasion and I hope you are ok.

“In order for me to fully investigate your comments can you please submit a picture of the underwear along with your postal address in order for me to send you a stamped addressed envelope for you to return the underwear to me.”

She has been corresponding with Primark over the message she found in the underwear

Abbie, mum to Harley, 10, Jasmine, four, and Leland, two, said despite the tone of her message, she is concerned about supporting a company whose workers could be writing messages inside clothing.

She said: “I want to find out if it was a cry for help because if it was then I would consider not shopping there again.

“If it is a message then it is quite upsetting. Reading into what happens to the workers in their sweatshop I would consider not going back.

“Paul is the same at the start he thought it was funny but him like me wants to know what the writing means and has put him off shopping at Primark.”

A Primary spokesman said: “The piece of fabric with these markings on was used in error by the supplier. These markings are standard fabric marking references used routinely by garment manufacturers.

“Primark can confirm that the company identified by the customer has no link whatsoever to this product or to Primark.”