A $68 Marc by Marc Jacobs T-shirt has gotten the boot by its designer after a blog pointed out its eerie resemblance to a neo-Nazi band’s album art.
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“Boots & Braces,” the 1987 12-inch from Skrewdriver, one of the first white-power rock groups, featured an illustration of combat boots—soles up—on its cover. At least one other group, the hardcore-punk (but not neo-Nazi) Agnostic Front, has also used a similar image.
But according to Marc by Marc Jacobs, the T-shirt’s design was just an unfortunate coincidence.
“It has been brought to our attention that the imagery on a T-shirt of ours is similar to that used by a band,” a spokesperson told New York Magazine's The Cut. “We were not trying to make a connection to that band or make a statement of any kind. We have removed the stock of the shirt from our own stores and offer our retail partners the same opportunity.”
The shirt is still available on the Saks Fifth Avenue website, but no longer on Nordstrom's. Neither retailer responded to Yahoo Shine’s requests for comment.
“I think people who pay 70 bucks for a T-shirt aren't hanging out at grimy punk…hangouts, nor should they be responsible for not knowing the fact that their new shirt is a ripoff of a Skrewdriver shirt,” noted one commenter on Gawker, which was the first site to point out the design similarities.
That comment prompted this reader response: “I feel like people buying $70 T-shirts are clueless about a lot of things.”