IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Zara Pulls Kids' Shirt Resembling Concentration Camp Uniform, Apologizes

A Spanish clothing retailer apologized and pulled a shirt from its website after it was criticized for looking like a concentration camp uniform.
Zara / Zara

Spanish clothing retailer Zara has pulled a children's T-shirt from its collection after the design came under fire for resembling concentration camp uniforms worn by Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust.

The shirt, which was sold online in several European countries and Israel, sports blue and white stripes and a yellow six-pointed star near the left shoulder. The shirt's star features a cutout that reads "sheriff" and was inspired by classic western films, according to the company. While gold six-pointed stars are typical of old west sheriff badges, stripes are not usually part of the uniform.

As Israeli newspaper Haaretz pointed out, the stripes and star combo can bring to mind imagery of striped shirts with the Star of David above the left breast used to identify Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

Zara apologized on Twitter after outrage over the resemblance broke out on social media. The company said the shirts were being pulled from stores.

The company's Israel office issued a further apology in Hebrew that Israeli-Palestinian blog +972 translated. The blog highlighted one line for what it felt was poor word choice in an apology for clothing resembling that worn in Nazi death camps: "As soon as the issue became clear, it was decided the product will be removed from shelves across the world and exterminated."

SOCIAL

--Jillian Sederholm