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Jewish Anti-Defamation League is outraged by Urban Outfitters "Jewish Star" T-shirt

THE HUFFINGTON POST
Urban Outfitters T-shirt
PENNSYLVANIA - The $100 "Wood Wood Kellog Tee," currently available on the store's website, has the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of Philadelphia up in arms over the shirt's design which they say mimics some of the horrors of the Holocaust. The chief offender? The star patch is placed on the T-shirt pocket right above the yellow shirt's left breast: [link]
Jewish star used to identify Holocaust targets by Nazi Germany
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Ernest Disney-Britton said…
Kudos to both Brian Jensen, the design firm which created the T-shirt for his quick and sensitive response. Congrats also to the Anti-Defamation League for their dogged pursuit of fighting injustice where ever they feel it has shown it's ugly head. Shame though on Urban Outfitters for their public silence on this matter. Perhaps they've made a statement, but I missed it, but the controversial image remains on their website although it is not on the designers website (Note that). My only conclusion is that Urban Outfitters believes they can rack-up more retail sales by riding the flames of controversey than by appearing to cave into pressure from an advocacy group. Only profits will show if this is a good, or bad call.
Mon Apr 23, 03:48:00 PM EDT
Wood Wood said…
SOURCE: THE GLOSS

“Dear friends, as some of you are aware, several news sites have been writing about our “‘Kellog’ T-shirt, which feature an image of a six-pointed star, allegedly similar to the yellow badge jews were ordered to wear by the German nazis. First of all the graphic is not the Star of David, and I can assure you that this is in no way a reference to judaism, nazism or the holocaust. The graphic came from working with patchwork and geometric patterns for our spring/summer collection ‘State of Mind’.

However when we received the prototype of this particular style we did recognize the resemblance, which is why we decided not to include the star patch on the final production T-shirt.

I assume the image people have reacted to come from Urban Outfitters´ web site. This must be a photograph of an early sample, which is of course an error.

Here is the actual T-shirt as it is in stores:

http://woodwood.dk/store/product/category-men-tees/kellog-tee

I am sorry if anyone was offended seeing the shirt, it was of course never our intention to hurt any feelings with this.

Brian SS Jensen,

Co-Founder of W.W.”

http://woodwood.dk/store/product/category-men-tees/kellog-tee




http://thegloss.com/fashion/urban-outfitters-jewish-star-370/comment-page-1/#comment-402954
Mon Apr 23, 03:53:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said…
I see that URBAN OUTFITTERS has finally removed the photograph of the offensive T-shirt. Any official word from them? If so, it's not come across Twitter.
Tue Apr 24, 09:19:00 AM EDT
ethan j singer said…
NOT GOOD ENOUGH Brian SS Jensen, WHY THE HELL is their a 3 legged swazi inside that star? explain it? another wierd lil' coincidence? i guess at the mercedes benz fashion show, as u parade yr lil' fascist models w hitler hair on the catwalk, its not that obvious... but mr SS, whats up with the swazi in the design, too? ya know, like this? http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/5079/21307496.jpg
Wed Apr 25, 10:19:00 PM EDT
momazato said…
OK, maybe I am just not very sensitive, but when I first saw the image I thought "martial arts throwing star" and wondered why it was on a tee shirt. Then I looked again and saw 3 interlocking rectangles/diamonds. If some find it offensive, I am glad it is gone.
Maybe it is time for rational discussion prior to knee jerk reactions.
Sun Apr 29, 12:10:00 PM EDT
Ernest Disney-Britton said…
The color of the t-shirt plus the image were pretty strong triggers for me, but I was suprised by the intensity of the response from the anti-defamation league. What was more suprising disturbing though was the silence from Urban Outfitters. I thought their customers deserved a response, especially since they did ultimately changeout the photo.
Mon Apr 30, 03:44:00 AM EDT
Ernest Disney-Britton said…
Thanks Ethan! You make a great point. Still, have you seen any word from the wonderful people at Urban Outfitters?
Mon Apr 30, 03:45:00 AM EDT
Nika Mavrody | Fashion Spot said…
I don't give Urban Outfitters a lot of credit, but I do doubt that the item was designed as an intentional allusion to the Holocaust. American corporations would sooner identify with communists than with neo-Nazis. This seems to fit comfortably in the category of: Another Thoughtless Gaffe from the Braniacs at Urban Outfitters. The yellow star, which Jews were required to wear on their left breast as identification in Nazi Germany and Nazi-occupied territories, is one of the Holocaust's best-known symbols. Kids learn about it in fourth grade; when people say, "Never again," this is one of the things they're referring to.

And so, we've arrived at the answer to another timeless question: if Urban Outfitters distributes an offensive, ignorant t-shirt nationwide, will anyone notice?

Yes.

Happy Monday!
Mon Apr 30, 10:42:00 AM EDT
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