Gap camp shirt

Fashion Faux Pas: Gap Pulls ‘Camp Shirt’ That Looked Eerily Like an Auschwitz Uniform

The fashion industry is known for straddling the line between provocative and inappropriate. Every so often, a designer messes up so bad it gets everyone’s attention in all the wrong ways. We just didn’t think Gap — known for its safe, solid-colored khakis, unremarkable button-downs, and logo sweats — would be the brand guilty of a major faux pas. But it is – for what it dubbed a “camp shirt.” And we aren’t talking summer camp, kids.

No, the blue- and white-striped cotton T-shirt looked eerily like something you’d see on an emaciated prisoner at Auschwitz circa the early 1940s. The Holocaust-esque design, clocking in at a pricey $49.50, immediately drew ire in the reviews section of its online store. “Is the yellow star included or do we have to sew it on ourselves? Asking for a Jew,” one reviewer asked. (Yikes.) One has to wonder how many pairs of eyes approved that design before it hit the website — and if they all slept through the WWII part of history class.

Gap released a vague statement claiming that “it’s investigating this matter urgently,” changed the item’s name to simply “striped shirt,” and dropped the price to $25. The clothing maker eventually pulled the shirt because of clap back, but it re-released the same item, albeit in a different color scheme, which admittedly looks less like something the Nazis would pick off a rack for work camp uniforms.

Cover Photo: Gap

Gap

Photo: Gap

Still, can we all agree that horrendous acts of genocide shouldn’t be a source of clothing inspiration?

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