Urban Outfitters, which has a long history of trying to sell insensitive items, is at it again, selling a tapestry that looks similar to the outfit the Nazis forced gay men to wear in concentration camps during the Holocaust.
The company is selling a tapestry with horizontal grey stripes on a white background. Upside-down pink triangles are also part of the design and look similar to what gay men were forced to wear, notes The Washington Post. Jews were forced to wear similar clothing, except with a yellow Star of David instead.
The Anti-Defamation League quickly issued a statement, asking the retail chain to pull the item.
“Whether intentional or not, this gray and white stripped pattern and pink triangle combination is deeply offensive and should not be mainstreamed into popular culture,” Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor, said on Monday. “We urge Urban Outfitters to immediately remove the product eerily reminiscent of clothing forced upon the victims of the Holocaust from their stores and online.”
The ADL wrote a letter to Urban Outfitters CEO Richard A. Hayne, also noting how the company has a history of making these kind of boneheaded moves.
In 2012, the ADL had to ask the company to pull a shirt with a yellow Star of David. The Danish company that designed the shirt said it was never meant to be sold.
In addition, in October 2011, Urban Outfitters’ Navajo collection was called offensive. Just last month, the company was criticized in the U.K. for using a thin model to sell its underwear.
In August 2014, European fashion brand Zara was slammed for its own shirt that looked just like what Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis.
image courtesy of the Anti-Defamation League
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