Before I go any further, please note the sarcastic nature of the post's title if you haven't already. I can't get all self-righteous and say I haven't bought a shirt dress or two laden with faded-out panda bears, but I also can't say that I'm proud of myself for it neither. So as we're all (or many of us, anyhoo) strapped for cash this holiday season and counting our pretty pennies, I thought I'd go ahead and hop on the wagon by sharing just one more reason why Urban Outfitters kinda sucks and isn't worth the money we youngsters might spend there. They once again walked the fine, sometimes apparently indiscernible line that has characterized their t-shirt campaigns, which often use controversial slogans and logos that push the boundaries between hipster and hate. The Advocate reported the story earlier today:
Philadelphia-based Urban Outfitters removed "I Support Same-Sex Marriage" shirts from its stores after they had been on sale for only a week. The publicly traded clothing chain blamed the removal of the shirts on bad press, but according to Racked, the negative publicity consisted of only one blog post.
The shirts' designer, Tara Littman, told Racked, "With quite a few pro-Obama shirts in their store and even some anti-McCain products, this clearly isn't a company that has a problem being politically aligned, so why?"
Urban Outfitters chairman Richard Hayne is known as a conservative -- he's donated thousands of dollars to right-wing causes, including the campaigns of homophobic former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum. When asked in 2003 what his own views were about homosexuality, Hayne told the Philadelphia Weekly, "I have my own opinion, but I am not going to share it." (Broverman, Advocate.com)
Interestingly enough, the article doesn't note that replacing Hayne last year was openly-gay Glen Senk. In a 2008 Fast Company interview, Senk defined his take on branding and worldview as "A healthy respect for individuality. High touch instead of high tech. Intelligent. Honest. Passionate. Artful. Nice. A respect for technology." Verdict's still out on whether he's going to apply that perspective. But it just seems, I dunno, a little weird that after all the slogans that did receive bad press (and lots of it), that it is one providing a message of positive, political inclusion that gets pulled after a single week.
On the flip side, however, must say that I'm not sure how surprised or saddened I am by the news. Given Urban Outfitters' tendency toward iconography and the cult-of-fashion, can't say I'm truly boo-hoo-ing over one less political fetishization. AND why not take this opportunity to actually go to the real designer? They're often plagiarized so well that no one who actually buys the UO rip-offs has a clue that there ever was a real designer. So if you're interested, check out the website for Support Shirts and designer Tara Littman where you can still purchase the pulled t-shirts.
-- Andrea
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