T-shirts and world market dilemmas
'I changed my mind. Just get me a T-shirt," said my Dad in Virginia when I called to check in from a trip to Southeast Asia.
I met those words with a bit of relief. For every person on the road who has faced the dilemma of finding the perfect souvenir gift to bring home, nothing is as helpful as a little bit of guidance in response to the question, "What can I get you from here?"
"Large. Nothing too bright. No red. Any colour will do. You decide." Then again, when the guidance proves a little bit conflicting, one can still be reassured that as long as it's the right size, who does not like a gift T-shirt? Ever since Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire and James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause captured hearts and imaginations decades ago on screen in a classic white T-shirt, what had once been hidden away has, like the Hollywood stars who wore them, gone on to iconic status.
No longer out of sight beneath a military uniform or a workman's clothes _ it was underwear after all _ the T-shirt has definitely moved on and up. Flash forward to today, and the T-shirt has taken the streets of Asia and indeed much of the world by storm.
Urban Outfitters's faux-Navajo no-no: latest wardrobe malfunction
By naming their items after the Native American tribe (i.e., the Peace Treaty Feather Necklace or the Staring at Stars Skull Native Headdress T-shirt), the company may have to pay a hefty fine for violating trademark law . The Navajo Nation owns 12 trademarks on the use of the word “Navajo,” and according to the Department of the Interior, it’s illegal to sell items in a manner that falsely suggest they are produced by Native Americans.
Pending litigation aside, this isn’t the first time that Urban Outfitters has found itself on the wrong side of public opinion for an item sold in its stores — nor is it the first company to offend a portion of the population by pushing the boundaries for questionable merchandising decisions over the last 10 years:
April 2002: Abercrombie & Fitch offends with Asian T-shirt that bears the slogan “Wong brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs Make it White.” The T-shirts featured Asian men with caricatured faces, slanted eyes and rice-paddy hats. The company was surprised by the controversy — “We personally thought Asians would love this T-shirt,” said Hampton Carney, with Paul Wilmot Communications in New York, the public relations firm where Abercrombie referred a reporter’s call.
The opportunity to buy a case of wine at a 15 percent discount (plus lunch and a T-shirt). “I love wine, and I wanted to see the process in action,” said Kristy Malik, 30, explaining why she woke up at 5:15 am to make the drive from Lucketts to
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It was the life of Virginia "Ginnie" Rohn, whose love of God, desire to teach and will to live inspired a Bethlehem community for 21/2 years until her body could no longer take the pain and punishment inflicted by tumors that began in a breast and