Urban Outfitters scandal disrespects customers

Early last week, Urban Outfitters committed yet another fashion crime, a scandal that demands urgent customer awareness. The retail behemoth insulted the nation and college students with the sale of a “one-of-a-kind” vintage Kent State sweatshirt. The $129 sweatshirt’s bloodstained pattern harkened to the 1970 “Kent State massacre,” in which the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a group of students, killing four and wounding 10.

 

Needless to say, the Internet has been abuzz with outrage at the company, which has grown increasingly notorious for its controversial merchandise. Popular sites including Forbes and the Huffington Post have since reported on the tastelessness of the sweatshirt, with Forbes accusing the company of “indifference, bordering on antipathy” toward shoppers.

The online retaliation was so widespread that the company promptly apologized via Twitter, explaining that the sweatshirt was part of a “sun-faded vintage collection.” According to the tweet, the pattern was not meant to represent blood spatter; rather, the “red stains are discoloration from the original shade of the shirt and the holes are from natural wear and fray.”

Perhaps this faux pas would seem like more of a genuine accident if this were an isolated incident. A short video by the Washington Post gave viewers on a glimpse of some of the company’s most appalling gaffes, a collection of disgraces that includes a gray v-neck t-shirt with the message “Eat Less” printed across the front and a yellow t-shirt with a blue Star of David embroidered on the pocket. The first shirt received backlash for its apparent apathy toward those with eating disorders, and the second was criticized for evoking Holocaust-era Jewish uniforms. A similar slideshow by Huffington Post Canada includes these products in addition to a greeting card with a transphobic message that uses the words “closet tranny” in a parody of the Jack-and-Jill poem, and a button-down Henley available in the color “Obama/Black.”

Forbes writer Clare O’Connor hit the nail on the head with her article’s title, “Urban Outfitters’ Real Scandal: Its Disdain For Its Customers.”  After all, this new scandal, with the context of founder Richard Hayne’s comments, renders the company’s blunders all the more sickening. In her article, O’Connor quotes Hayne’s 2013 statement to his analysts, in which he pinned the company’s target consumer as “the upscale homeless person, who has a slight degree of angst and is probably in the life stage of 18 to 26.”

Aside from revealing blatant insensitivity toward homelessness, Hayne’s statement reaffirms the company’s lack of tact. Hayne and his company presented a sweatshirt making light of a college massacre to a college-aged market. The whole concept seems more of a sick joke than an actual business venture.

In a recent statement on its website, Kent State responded to the sweatshirt fiasco. “We take great offense to a company using our pain for their publicity and profit,” the statement reads. “This item is beyond poor taste and trivializes a loss of life that still hurts the Kent State community today.”

It is precisely this disregard for public reception that renders this incident so atrocious. Whether or not the company actually embellished the sweatshirt with fake bloodstains, the blatant connection is undeniable and wholly unacceptable. There is a definite distinction between making a statement and the commodification of tragedy; band t-shirts and transparent tank tops are bold, but making light of murder is simply tasteless. There is nothing coincidental about Urban Outfitters’ repeated trivialization of some of the nation’s most vulnerable memories and heated topics, and this offense begs for consumers to take a step back and reconsider their purchases.

Of course, it’s one thing to verbally condemn the fat cats running a corporation and another thing entirely to stop purchasing clothing from one’s favorite store. Still, Urban Outfitters’ insensitive merchandise creates a tangible bond between the corporate leaders of the company and the consumers. A Huffington Post article by Jamie Gottlieb cites the results of the 2014 Millenial Impact Report, which found that  “people born in the ’80s and ’90s place high value on social change and participation in volunteer work.” Since the company disregards values its target audience cherishes, it is up to the customer to take a stand.

“As a generation that supports change, social justice and healthy body image, Urban Outfitters continually tears away at what millennials value most, then promotes it in the form of overpriced t-shirts,” Gottlieb said.

Worded that way, it seems as though Urban Outfitters endorses the absolute worst aspects of American culture for the sake of material gain, and — to say the least — this is not okay. It’s actually terrifying that the company has been able to sell so much to a market whose ideology it has butchered time and time again.

Urban Outfitters can apologize and play innocent all it wants, but it’s time consumers took matters into their own hands. It might be slightly harder to find the perfect vintage-style crop top at Forever 21, but perhaps it’s worth supporting a company with a better value system.