Fast-fashion brand SHEIN removes swastika pendant from website amid outcry
A swastika necklace for sale at fast-fashion retailer SHEIN. Image by Instagram/Marissa Casey Grossman
By Irene Katz Connelly July 9, 2020
Fast-fashion retailer SHEIN removed a swastika-shaped pendant from its website after shoppers raised an outcry on social media.
On Thursday, the Instagram account Here For the Tea, which chronicles scandals in the style world, posted a picture of the item, a gold necklace titled “metal swastika pendant” selling for four dollars. The post quickly gained traction, with many vowing to stop shopping at SHEIN. “This is a company that I’ve bought from so much over the years and to see this is ABSOLUTELY disgusting,” influencer Marissa Casey Grossman wrote on Instagram.
The pendant disappeared from SHEIN’s website shortly after Grossman’s post, Guest of a Guest reported.
i just checked the website and it really does exist. disgusted and appalled. i have living family members who still have numbers carved into their arms and trauma that will never go away. will never be ordering again from @SHEIN_official. pic.twitter.com/bTWqTUfz9D
— Molly Morrison (@mollyhannahm) July 9, 2020
The incident comes days after SHEIN apologized for selling Muslim prayer mats as “decorative rugs.” Influencer and activist Nabela Noor, who pushed SHEIN to remove the prayer mats from its website, also spoke out about the swastika pendant on Twitter, writing “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.”
So @SHEIN_official is back at it again. Even after speaking with the brand directly last week re: selling PRAYER MATS and their “promise for change,” here we are.
I will be reaching out to them today as we have been having ongoing conversations.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. pic.twitter.com/oiKqcAUrvk
— Nabela Noor (@Nabela) July 9, 2020
In a statement emailed to the Forward, a representative from SHEIN said the necklace was a Buddhist swastika, “which has symbolized spirituality and good fortune for more than a thousand years.” The arms of the swastika sold by SHEIN point counterclockwise, whereas the arms of the Nazi swastika point clockwise.
“We want to apologize profusely to those who are offended,” the statement continued. “We in no way support or condone racial, cultural and religious prejudice or hostility.”
Irene Katz Connelly is an editorial fellow at the Forward. You can contact her at connelly@forward.com.
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