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This clothing company is facing massive backlash for trying to reclaim the swastika

K A Designs, though, is not backing down.

Photo of Josh Katzowitz

Josh Katzowitz

Swastika t-shirt K A Designs

A clothing company is apparently so interested in pushing the boundaries of fashion, it’s tried to make the swastika a “symbol of love and peace.” That declaration, though, has been met with massive resistance online.

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https://twitter.com/TrainerGloria/status/894185685422403584

K A Designs tried to push the narrative that it was reclaiming the swastika by explaining that it’s a 5,000-year-old symbol that was once associated with peace, love, and life until the Nazis turned it into a marker of hate.

“They stigmatized the swastika forever,” K A explained in its video. “They won. They limited our freedom. Or maybe not? The swastika is coming back, together with peace, together with love, together with respect, together with freedom.”

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Then, it introduced a rainbow-colored swastika that could be printed on shirts, promoting love, peace, zen, and freedom.

https://www.facebook.com/ka.art.designstudio/videos/101318353845753/

The backlash was almost immediate.

“I am outraged and shocked that any company would seek to profit from selling such reprehensible items,” Dr. Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission in Australia, told PinkNews. “The swastika does not represent the LGBTI community, whose members were the victims of Hitler’s evil regime. And no, it cannot be rebranded as a symbol of peace. KA’s naïve, and in many ways, selfish attitude shows a staggering lack of concern for the feelings of those who survived the Holocaust and those who lost relatives to the monstrous deeds of the Third Reich.”

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As of Monday morning, Teespring had taken the T-shirts offline. K A Designs did not immediately respond to a Daily Dot request for comment.

But K A Designs—which describes itself as “your source for quality vintage style tees with funny sayings and original designs for guys and girls”—appears not to be backing down from the controversy.

https://www.facebook.com/ka.art.designstudio/photos/a.101320443845544.1073741828.101068007204121/111741002803488/?type=3&theater

H/T Pink News

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