--- title: Urban Outfitters Kent State Shooting Sweatshirt Controversy: Apology description: "Given our history of controversial issues, we understand how our sincerity may be questioned" canonical: https://time.com/3387566/urban-outfitters-sweatshirt-apology/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-16T20:05:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:13:12.338Z article:section: History og:title: Urban Outfitters Kent State Shooting Sweatshirt Controversy: Apology og:description: "Given our history of controversial issues, we understand how our sincerity may be questioned" og:url: https://time.com/3387566/urban-outfitters-sweatshirt-apology/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19bd5c909fe47f53/6986a3a055a8593ddca82972/urban-outfitters-kent-state.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Urban Outfitters og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Urban Outfitters Kent State Shooting Sweatshirt Controversy: Apology twitter:description: "Given our history of controversial issues, we understand how our sincerity may be questioned" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19bd5c909fe47f53/6986a3a055a8593ddca82972/urban-outfitters-kent-state.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Urban Outfitters: 'We Understand How Our Sincerity May Be Questioned'  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 16, 2014 8:05 PM UTC  Urban Outfitters  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 16, 2014 8:05 PM UTC On Monday, we [wrote about](http://time.com/3377949/urban-outfitters-kent-state/) the latest controversy to hit clothing retailer Urban Outfitters: a vintage Kent State sweatshirt that appeared to have blood stains on it, an apparent reference to the shooting deaths of four students by National Guardsmen that took place during a May 1970 protest on the Ohio campus. Though Urban Outfitters [apologized](http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n%5F1sagorq) soon after the sweatshirt began to make news, on Tuesday the retailer issued a fuller explanation about the incident to TIME. The company only had one sweatshirt, it says, which it purchased at a flea market. “Given our history of controversial issues,” the retailer says, “we understand how our sincerity may be questioned.” Here’s Urban Outfitters’ full explanation of how it came to sell the sweatshirt: --- > “” --- [_Read more about read why the Urban Outfitters Kent State sweatshirt caused a controversy here, on TIME.com_](http://time.com/3377949/urban-outfitters-kent-state/) Urban Outfitters Kent State Shooting Sweatshirt Controversy: Apology ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3387566/urban-outfitters-sweatshirt-apology/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3387566/urban-outfitters-sweatshirt-apology/"},"headline":"Urban Outfitters: 'We Understand How Our Sincerity May Be Questioned'","datePublished":"2014-09-16T20:05:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:13:12.338Z","description":"Following an uproar, the retailer explains how it ended up selling a 'bloody' Kent State sweatshirt in a statement provided to TIME","url":"https://time.com/3387566/urban-outfitters-sweatshirt-apology/","keywords":["Style","controversy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19bd5c909fe47f53/6986a3a055a8593ddca82972/urban-outfitters-kent-state.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19bd5c909fe47f53/6986a3a055a8593ddca82972/urban-outfitters-kent-state.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Urban Outfitters","caption":"Urban Outfitters","creditText":"Urban Outfitters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/style/","name":"Style"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3387566/urban-outfitters-sweatshirt-apology/","name":"Urban Outfitters: 'We Understand How Our Sincerity May Be Questioned'"}}]}] ```