Racism doesn't belong on T-shirts, crowd tells retailer

Lambasting trendy retailer Abercrombie & Fitch as racist, about 50 people marched and chanted outside the company's downtown Seattle store yesterday, protesting T-shirts that depicted cartoon caricatures with Asian themes.

Shouting, "Racist fashion's got to go!" and brandishing signs saying, "Racism is not chic," and "Down with racism, up with respect," the group circulated fliers demanding an apology from Abercrombie's chief executive officer, Michael Jeffries.

The company has taken the shirts off store shelves, but protesters called for diversity training for the company's employees.

"Abercrombie & Fitch makes bigotry trendy again," said protester Yoona Lee, 26. "And if they think Asian Americans are going to be supine about this ... they're wrong."

One shirt pokes fun at the laundries run by Chinese Americans at a time when few other jobs were open to them. The Wong Brothers Laundry Service shirt depicts two Asian cartoon figures and the slogan: "Two Wongs can make it white."

Others use caricatures of a rickshaw driver and of a fat-bellied Buddha figure.

The T-shirts hit Abercrombie's Web site and shelves in stores around the country April 12. Six days later, the retailer pulled the shirts and apologized after receiving dozens of complaints, many from Stanford University students.

"It is not, and never has been, our intention to offend anyone," said Abercrombie spokesman Hampton Carney. "These were designed to add humor and levity to our fashion line. Since some of our customers were offended by these T-shirts, we removed them from all our stores."

But that's not enough, protesters said yesterday.

"It's a lame apology in our opinion," said Chia-Chi Li, 21, a University of Washington student and board member of the local chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans. "We want Abercrombie & Fitch to take this seriously, which we don't think they are.

"How about the structure within the institution that allowed these shirts to be made? That hasn't changed at all."

The shirts were the conception of a Korean-American designer who thought they were funny, Carney said.

"It would be nice to think that we've transcended these stereotypes. But we haven't, tragically," said Lee, saying she was the subject of a racial slur just the other day. "It's egregious."

It's not the first time the Ohio-based retailer, which caters to an 18- to 22-year-old clientele, has come into controversy. Trying to market itself as edgy, Abercrombie previously has been criticized for sexually suggestive advertising, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving protested its "Drinking 101" ads.

"We're all about being irreverent and funny and cheeky," Carney said. "We thought people would love (the shirts). Obviously we've offended people, and for that we're very sorry."

At least nine of the T-shirts were posted by buyers on the online auction site eBay last week, said eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove. Bidding for one went as high as $250 after Abercrombie removed the line from its stores, he said.

But the California-based eBay has been taking the listings off its site as they are posted, saying they violate its ban on any items that may promote or glorify racial intolerance.

Carney wouldn't say if or how the company was changing its policy to prevent future clothing designs that might offend other racial groups, but he said, "It will never happen again."

Gina Kim can be reached at 206-464-2761 or gkim@seattletimes.com.