Spanish mega-chain Zara has taken a popular bag out of stores after a customer in the UK complained of embroidered green swastikas.
Zara, which is owned by the world’s second largest fashion retailer, claims it did not know the 39 pound (about $78) purse had obvious swastikas on its corners.
“The bags were made by a supplier in India and inspired by commonly used Hindu symbols, which include the swastika. The original design approved by Zara did not have swastikas on it,” Inditex said. I can’t help but wonder how the 2nd largest chain of fashion stores in the country doesn’t have an inventory-approval system in place.
“After the return of one bag we decided to withdraw the whole range,” said a PR person for Inditex, which has more than 3,330 stores in 66 countries.
Zara pulled the bags of shelves when a 19 year old complained and asked for a refund. What’s more interesting to me is the face that some of Zara’s top-grossing stores are in Israel, yet they company removed the Israeli flag from their multi-flag logo as well.
Shame on you Zara… assholes!
Not quite as outrageous as you might think. Hitler stole the swastika symbol from the Hindi religion, and seeing that the bag was made in India and considered spiritual it makes sense to put it on the bag. Unfortunately when peoplel see the symbol they think of Hitler’s version, but that is not the case here, nor is it fair to imply the company is antisemitic.
Sarah, I think you’re way off base. Zara is a major international company that grosses billions in sales annually. It’s part of corporate responsibility to inspect and approve merchandise before it’s sold. Had the items been sold in Indian or other southeast Asian markets exclusively, there would be no backlash. The bags, however, were sold on the European continent that was nearly destroyed by WW2 and the Nazis.
I see what you’re getting at, but you’re still viewing the symbol as that of the nazis.The people who were offended by the bag should simply steer away from that purchase rather than making the company seem supportive of a nazi regime or whatever they were getting at. What it all comes down to is cultural perspective, or the lack there of in this case. But yes if you had no idea of where the symbol came from and you stumble across this bag i can see where offense may be taken. If it was not for Hitler i doubt many would even know what the symbol was as it is part of Hindi religion.
BSJ is offended that people think crosses belong to Christianity, when it really belongs to arithmetic.
He’s also offended that you can’t have the last name Hitler anymore.