Kent State takes 'offense' at Urban Outfitters red-stained shirt

Kent State University, the site of a shooting in 1970 that killed four students, criticized Urban Outfitters Inc. for selling a sweatshirt with its college logo and what appears to be splattered blood.

"We take great offense to a company using our pain for their publicity and profit," the Ohio university said in a statement online. "This item is beyond poor taste and trivializes a loss of life that still hurts the Kent State community today."

Urban Outfitters, a retail chain with a history of stocking controversial items, sold the one-of-a kind item for $129 on its website as part of an assortment of vintage clothing.

Urban Outfitters has drawn flak before for its clothing. In 2011, the Navajo nation sent the company a letter demanding that it pull the tribe's name from a line of purses, T-shirts and underwear. The Spanish clothing chain Zara also sparked outrage last month with a kids' sheriff shirt that looked like a Holocaust concentration camp uniform. - Bloomberg News