Clothier pulls T-shirts after protests

SAN FRANCISCO -- Clothier Abercrombie & Fitch is pulling a line of T-shirts that triggered protests from Asian groups who said they reinforced negative stereotypes.

The T-shirts, some of which show smiling men with slanted eyes and conical hats, will be pulled from all of the company's 311 stores in 50 states, company spokesman Hampton Carney said Thursday.

"We're very, very, very sorry," Carney said. "It's never been our intention to offend anyone."

Carney could not say how many of the T-shirts were already in stores, or how much the recall would cost the New Albany, Ohio-based casual sportswear company. The T-shirts, which went on sale in some stores Friday for $24.50, also will be removed from sale on the company's Web site, Carney said.

One of the company's T-shirts reads "Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make It White."

The T-shirts prompted a late-night meeting of Stanford University students Wednesday. The Asian American Students' Association encouraged calls to the company and said Abercrombie & Fitch should apologize.

"It's really misleading as to what Asian people are," Michael Chang, vice chairman of the student organization, told the San Jose Mercury News. "The stereotypes they depict are more than a century old. You're seeing laundry service. You're seeing basically an entire religion and philosophy being trivialized."

One shirt features a smiling Buddha figure with the slogan "Abercrombie and Fitch Buddha Bash -- Get Your Buddha on the Floor."

Another reads "Wok-N-Bowl -- Let the Good Times Roll -- Chinese Food & Bowling."

Carney said the company received about 60 phone calls Wednesday about the shirts. The company makes fun of everyone, Carney said, noting its previous clothing designs have included foreign waitresses, taxi drivers and Britons.

Abercrombie & Fitch's advertising campaigns have come under fire before. Last year, women's organizations and conservative politicians rallied against the company for its ads featuring young, barely clad models in sexually suggestive poses.