The structures at Dick Hayne's Doe Run Farm are beautifully designed and built. His artisanal cheese wins awards for its high quality. His workers are meticulous about keeping the estate grounds in impeccable condition. And I'm told that he is a very hands-on owner, involved in every decision.
Why, then, is the company he founded, Urban Outfitters Inc., continually being accused of selling tasteless and offensive products?
Just today a friend forwarded a Philadelphia Inquirer story about how UO was selling a $100 T-shirt with a six-pointed star on the pocket that resembled those that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany.
According to the Inquirer story, the Philadelphia chapter of the Anti-Defamation League "last week sent a letter to Urban Outfitters chairman and CEO Richard A. Hayne demanding `an immediate apology'.”
The company "said Monday it never stocked or sold" the T-shirt and the shirt’s "Danish manufacturer said a photo featuring the embroidery on Urban’s website `must be an early sample' of a prototype that was never, ultimately, made."
Philadelphia newspapers have previously reported that UO got in hot water for selling St. Patrick's Day T-shirts invoking offensive Irish stereotypes. Not to mention the Christmas-tree ornaments in the shape of guns, and the "Ghettopoly" game...
"Another day, another Urban Outfitters controversy," observed the website "Fashionista."
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