These hoodies are anything but comfortable.
Dystopia-inspired fashion house Bstroy unveiled its Spring 2020 menswear collection over the weekend in a series of Instagram images. The backlash was swift. People slammed the brand for four new hoodies featuring the names of schools devastated by mass shootings: Sandy Hook, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Columbine and Virginia Tech (the image of the last one has since been deleted).
The most chilling aspect is that each hoodie is riddled with what appear to be bullet holes, recalling how nearly 100 students and staff members were killed on those school campuses.
Commenters on Instagram called the designs “disgusting,” “callous” and “revolting.” Family members and survivors of school shootings also spoke out against the offensive garments online.
Kyle Kashuv, a teenage Stoneman Douglas survivor, called the designs “disgusting” in the comments of one image featuring his school’s name.
“I would just like to say, what actual the hell is wrong with you. Goddamn monetizing off a school shooting,” wrote Kashuv, who earlier this year faced his own controversy over racist remarks predating the shooting.
The Instagram account for the Vicki Soto Memorial Fund, named after a teacher who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School, also criticized the brand: “As a Sandy Hook family, what you are doing here is absolutely disgusting, hurtful, wrong and disrespectful. You’ll never know what our family went through after Vicki died protecting her students. Our pain is not to be used for your fashion.”
Bstroy ― which was founded by designers Brick Owens and Dieter “Du” Grams, according to Paper Magazine ― did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Owens did post a statement on his Instagram page, describing the inspiration behind the hoodies.
“Sometimes life can be painfully ironic,” the statement reads. “Like the irony of dying violently in a place you considered to be a safe, controlled environment, like school. We are reminded all the time of life’s fragility, shortness, and unpredictability yet we are also reminded of its infinite potential.”