Urban Outfitters is known for being an edgy brand, with their “hipster” clothing, vintage memorabilia, and eclectic array of items from wall art to tchotchkes, but this past week left people believing they had pushed the limit.
The store released a one of kind vintage Kent State sweatshirt online with what looked like blood stains splattered on the front. The markings seemed to reference the 1970 school shooting that left four students dead.
People were disgraced by the $129 top, leaving Urban Outfitters to take immediate action yanking the sweatshirt off their website and stating an official apology saying “we deeply regret that this item was perceived negatively.” They explained that the shirt was not meant to reference the massacre and that the “blood stains” were simply “discoloration from the original shade of the shirt and the holes [were] from natural wear and fray.”
Their “sincere” apology left people wondering just how genuine it really was. Wouldn’t a little research and common sense have nicked the idea of selling this “oh so exclusive” sweatshirt in the first place? Kent State University certainly thought so, releasing a statement saying they were offended by Urban Outfitter’s selling of the shirt and appalled that they would take profit at the expense of others despair.
This sweatshirt gets added to a laundry of other items the brand has released for sale, and then quickly had to pull from shelves and their website. In 2010, a shirt was pulled for reading “Eat Less.” It probably didn’t help that it was shown on a stick thin model who completed the “starving” look with a short black skirt to match. This shirt, which is apparently still sold in stores, caused outrage among the public and especially from eating disorder prevention organizations around the country.
A year later Urban Outfitters found itself in hot water for labeling Navejo clothing and accessories earning the attention of Sasha Houston Brown, a Santee Sioux Nation member, who found their labeling to be “distasteful and racially demeaning.” Urban Outfitters soon learned they had violated a federal law that prohibits falsely implying that products are made by Native Americans. Again another oversight on research. Something the company may not have to research though is their biggest customer age set.
Being a popular store among young adults, but also mainly teenagers, the store came up with a line of drinking shirts with phrases like “I Vote for Vodka” and “I Drink You’re Cute.” Wearing these cheeky tees may have been alright for the 21+ age group but as for those younger ones, anti-underage drinking advocates were concerned for them and the influence these shirts might have.
Now the brand has adjusted to simply selling drinking helmets and shot roulette games. While Urban Outfitters may not be able to erase the mistakes they have made, they can be more conscientious in the future and prevent their list of mishaps from growing. That is unless they want to be on a whole other level of edginess, in which case the controversies might just keep coming.
