--- 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: 2026-10-01T09:03:15.300Z 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=949&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 949 og:image:height: 534 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=949&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Urban Outfitters: 'We Understand How Our Sincerity May Be Questioned' > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=dbfe6ad1-2cb4-4e0c-a423-6028ddb63aab&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=dbfe6ad1-2cb4-4e0c-a423-6028ddb63aab&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Urban Outfitters Pulls Bloodied Kent State Sweatshirt [Watch (HLS stream): Urban Outfitters Pulls Bloodied Kent State Sweatshirt](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YDd3LEuv.m3u8) (1:31)  _Published 2014-09-15. The clothing store finds itself in controversy once again after online shoppers pointed out a tasteless sweatshirt referencing Kent State's 1970 shootings._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 16, 2014 8:05 PM UTC  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/) ## Transcript Urban Outfitters is finding itself, once again, in the middle of controversy, this time after releasing a vintage Kent State sweatshirt with splattered red paint that looks like blood. Although the sweatshirt quickly sold out, many expressed their disgust with the retailer. In 1970, the National Guard opened fire on Kent State students protesting the Vietnam war. Four of those students were killed. Late Monday morning the company issued an apology on Twitter and said the item was part of our sun- faded vintage collection. And the red stains were discoloration from the original shade of a shirt. Kent State University released a statement saying, we take great offense to a company using our pain for their publicity and profit. Profit, this item is beyond poor taste, and trivializes a loss of life that still hurts the Kent State community today. The company has yet to comment on it's motivations in making the sweat shirt. But did say it didn't intend to make reference to the 1970 events. Still some argue the company was using shock to sell. Past controversies include a shirt depicting Jesus holding a beer. And another with the word depression repeated, which seemed to make light of the mental illness. The Philadelphia Business Journal noted that Urban Outfitters ultimately discontinued production of depression shirt and issued a public apology via twitter. Those are only a couple of Urban Outfitters' recent controversies, with the depression scandal occurring at the beginning of this year. But even now, it's unclear why, besides the shooting, Kent State was picked as the college to center the vintage sweatshirt around. ```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":"2026-10-01T09:03:15.300Z","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'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Urban Outfitters Pulls Bloodied Kent State Sweatshirt","description":"The clothing store finds itself in controversy once again after online shoppers pointed out a tasteless sweatshirt referencing Kent State's 1970 shootings.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/YDd3LEuv/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-15T22:34:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YDd3LEuv.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3387566/urban-outfitters-sweatshirt-apology/","duration":"PT1M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3387566/urban-outfitters-sweatshirt-apology/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```