Forever 21 pulled a line of t-shirts from its online store after customers complained that the shirt contained Nazi symbols.
California residents Stella Lopez and Amie Alton reportedly saw the symbols and alerted a store employee.
“It’s definitely Nazi propaganda,” Alton told Fox40. “I’ve seen that tagged on stuff growing up, and know what that is. It stands for HH, ‘Heil Hitler.’ And the lightning bolt stands for the SS from the Third Reich.”
“Those are huge symbols of hate,” Lopez said.
One controversial insignia found on Forever 21’s Famous Graphic Tee is a lighting bolt, which was apparently seen as being similar to the sign belonging to Adolf Hitler’s paramilitary organization The Schutzstaffel.
Another symbol on the t-shirt is the number 88, which some consider to be code for “HH,” or “Heil Hitler.”
“There’s a lot of anger right now in our country. And there’s potential there’s going to be violence because of this,” Lopez said. “”Fascism isn’t fashion.”
On Tuesday, a Forever 21 spokesperson apologized to those who were offended and said the apparel company had decided to remove the shirt from its website.
“Forever 21 takes feedback and product concerns very seriously,” the spokesperson said. “With regards to the t-shirt in question, upon receiving feedback from our customers, we took immediate action to have the product removed from our website. We sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by the product.”
The t-shirt is still available for purchase on Forever 21’s India website.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson