Rob Horgan
SPANISH retail giant Zara are facing heavy criticism after releasing a child’s outfit that resembles a concentration camp uniform.
The retailer has since removed the garment from its stores and apologised for the ‘insensitive’ design.
The long-sleeved blue and white stripped top bears a yellow six-pointed star – uncannily similar to the Star of David – and was marketed as ‘striped sheriff t-shirt’.
A spokesperson for Zara’s parent company Inditex – owned by Spain’s richest man, Amancio Ortega – said: “The garment was inspired by the classic Western films, but we now recognise that the design could be seen as insensitive and apologise sincerely for any offence caused to our customers.”
The Jewish Press condemned the item as a ‘sly swipe at Jewish Holocaust survivors’ stating that the retailer had underhand motives.
This is not the first time that Zara has been involved in an anti-Semitic political gaffe. In 2007, Zara stocked a handbag displaying four green swastikas. At the time, the company claimed their aim to remain fashionable meant mistakes were occasionally made in the production stage.
This shirt for me is a mockery to the human suffering.
On the other hand, I’m surprised about the profusion of negative articles regarding Zara published in this newspaper.
A holocaust shirt had broad vertical stripes like pyjamas, and this thing by Zara looks nothing like it, but why let that get in the way of a bit of faux outrage.