Students Protest ‘Racist' T-Shirts From Abercrombie & Fitch Line

UC Berkeley students joined a large crowd of people to protest Abercrombie & Fitch's new line of clothing last night in San Francisco, accusing the company of marketing racist T-shirts.

A group of students from the UC Berkeley Asian Pacific Council attended the protests to challenge negative stereotypes portrayed by the store's clothing line.

The protested line of clothing includes a T-shirt that reads, "Wong Brothers Laundry Service-Two Wongs Can Make it White." A caricature of two men with slanted eyes and conical hats is pictured next to the slogan.

Other T-shirts of the same line read "Abercrombie & Fitch Buddha Bash-Get Your Buddha on the Floor" and "Wok-N-Bowl, Let the Good Times Roll-Chinese Food and Bowling."

The T-shirts have already been taken off of the company's official Web site, and were pulled from the shelves yesterday.

Hampton Carney, a spokesperson for Abercrombie & Fitch, told the Associated Press that the company is "very, very, very sorry" and that it was never their intention to offend anyone.

The logo T-shirts were designed with "the sole purpose of adding humor and levity to our fashion line," he said, adding that shirts also poke fun at taxi drivers, Britons and foreign waitresses.

This is not the first time that the marketing of Abercrombie & Fitch, an Ohio-based casual clothing store, has been widely contested. Catalogues featuring semi-nude models have also sparked controversy.

A manager of the San Francisco store said he had been warned of the protest yesterday afternoon, but he declined to comment further. Officials from the store's headquarters were also unavailable for comment.

UC Berkeley's Asian Pacific Council, an umbrella organization for Asian American groups on campus, held a town meeting last night to discuss further how to take action against the clothing company.

"We are organizing to show that racism exists against Asian Pacific Islanders and ... for the company to say they are sorry," said Bryant Yang, co-chair of the council.

At the meeting, students decided they would work with other campuses to call on Abercrombie to diversify their models and to demand a formal apology from the company for the shirts.

UC Berkeley's Asian Pacific Council is taking action to let Abercrombie & Fitch's customers know about the shirts, since many Asian Americans shop at the store, said Yang, adding that he doesn't want the company just to be able to quietly take the shirts off the shelves without anyone realizing what happened.

UC Berkeley students are working with a similar group at Stanford University. Additionally, students from campuses across the country are rallying together to protest the company.

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