Urban Outfitters removes controversial T-shirt image from site

Urban Outfitters Inc. said Monday it never stocked or sold a controversial T-shirt with a pocket patch that resembled a symbol worn by Jews in Nazi Europe, while 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.

The Philadelphia-based retailer would not explain how a photo of the yellow cotton Kellog tee with a six-pointed blue star on a chest pocket ended up on its website for $100, but spokesman Ed Looram said the online image would be replaced with a "correct" and pocketless version of the shirt, made by Denmark-based Wood Wood. He said such a version has been sold online and in stores since February.

The star T-shirt was gone from the site Monday afternoon.

Wood Wood cofounder Brian Jensen sent a letter of apology Monday to the New York headquarters of the Anti-Defamation League, whose Philadelphia chapter last week sent a letter to Urban Outfitters chairman and CEO Richard A. Hayne demanding "an immediate apology." The ADL said Monday it was "deeply appreciative" to Wood Wood but had not heard from Urban Outfitters. Calls to Jensen and Wood Wood cofounder Karl Olson were not returned.

— Maria Panaritis