Blood, Sweat and Tears are now a fashion accessory. (Update)
Well it seems that the people over at Urban Outfitters have decided that it would be trendy to added military patches and ranks to their clothing lines. Units such as the Third Ranger Battalion and the Army EOD patch are such the rage these days. I mean why actually serve in the military and have to deal with military life when you can look like you did for a low price of $85 dollars?
Our friends at Guardians of Valor are one of the first people to report this and are actively encouraging Veterans to write to the company to have these clothing items pulled.
Guess what Urban Outfitter’s this is NOT a fashion accessory, to include all the other patches you have adorned your clothing with. These insignia are not worn as fashion, Soldiers have died while wearing these patches and scrolls!!!
I am sure some will say “no big deal”, but I beg to differ! It is opening the door for posers to claim this crap. Oh you have a Ranger Scroll on your vest, must be a Ranger!! So don’t tell us it won’t hurt anyone, or someone wont get scammed, because it will happen eventually! Not to mention it is degrading the Scroll and the other patches!
We do ask if you contact them, or post on their FB page, keep it polite and professional! We have emailed them and explained our point of view, and why it should not be sold as some accessory.
I will post new updates to this story when we get a reply.
UPDATE:It looks like the item(s) in question will be removed from their clothing line.
“Thank you for your comments and we appreciate you bringing this to our attention. It is never Urban Outfitters’ intention to offend our customers. We respect the military and value our nation’s veterans and those in active duty. Although the use of military insignias is common practice within fashion industry trends, we understand your concerns and will remove the Standard Cloth Patches Blue Vest from our website.”
Category: Dumbass Bullshit, Society
This needed to be filed under “Shitbags.”
people would hate me, seeing a hipster wear that scroll in front of me. Better men than I died wearing that scroll.
Ranger Up is already getting mighty pissed about it
Jackassery at its finest. I swear that while watching some lame ass talent show with my wife (she made me watch it, keeps reminding me she’s CINC HOME) I swear some dude was wearing a Lance Corporal service alpha blouse……..
I hate to think that what we’ve earned is now just a fashion idea for the ignorant masses.
http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/help/contactus.jsp
Please, e-mail the crap out of them and have this discontinued.
Saw this first on Just POG Things:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=225946014229450&set=a.175572482600137.1073741826.175571615933557&type=1&theater
While I was hunting for the offending piece of clothing, I found they are also selling BDU tops with name and Army tapes. Pretty sure that’s a damn NO-GO too.
Reminds me of the douche nozzle company “Veteran’s Clothing” out of San Diego about a year ago. I think they went under.
I would suggest that not only should those who are offended by Urban Outfitters clothing line write to the company, but also go to the companies site and leave terrible reviews on this highly offensive ‘fashion’ line.
Just checked the UO Facebook page at 2300 hrs PDT. Any pictures of items with mil patches that were posted have been taken down. Closest thing to military items were some camo pants.
Guys, you are getting worked up over a clothing line that has been doing this now for ten years. Why are we so concerned about it now? I am sorry if I don’t jump in the lynch mob on this one. Let the names begin….
In all honesty, I don’t think it will open the doors for posers. If you want to pretend, there are easier ways, which all the posers out there have been doing for years.
It will also boil down for UO to one thing. Will they lose money? That’s the only thing that will decide this and right now I doubt that a lot of veterans are buying at UO in the first place.
That’s it. There is no legal way of stopping them. According to SCOTUS this easily falls under the 1st A. Same reason the Stolen Valor Act was canned.
Oh please get over yourselves. There is all sorts of stupid fucking ranger fashion shit all over the place not to mention ridiculous as fuck EGA stuff.
What manufactured outrage just because it’s hipsters instead of motards. Call the 911 on 556 appearal if you’re so outraged. Some of you people just get too worked up over dumb shit.
My brother buys storage lockers and sells the stuff inside. He has run across all kinds of stupid shit with military patches sewn on them. Trae is right, this stuff has been going on for awhile.
I don’t mind it. The clothes look ridiculous, and anyone wearing them is opening themselves to ridicule.
I’d bet they got a sweet deal from Vanguard Military as all those “CLass A” full color patches for the Army are obsolete with the new ASU. Think about it. As a Teen in I.S. 25 I had a Jacket that was all Military insignia of the time printed on the cloth. and I remember mom buying us Khaki shirts at Sears around 73-75 with SGM chevrons on them. No one mistook me for a Sarn’t major.
I checked their ad out, and that shit they offer is definitely for those with more money than brains! $80-120 for that shit, and the vests with GI patches are in the $80+ range.
Urban Outfitters is big here in the DC area… That being said, I will rip this crap off any hipster I see wearing it
Urban Outfitters, i.e., hipster douchebag overpriced clothing store.
Yeah, color me shocked. Gaaaaaaaaaddddammit.
I agree with 13 and a few others.
Yeah, it bothers me, too. But so does seeing worn out BDU’s on hunters. Or anyone else who did not wear them in the military.
That said, while it is offensive to see those things we earned worn irreverently, I do not want to live where what others can do is dictated by what offends me. Or you.
Actual posing is something entirely different.
I’m thinking about buying the shirt – I’ve always wanted a 1st COSCOM patch.
That’s the awesome thing about being a bubblehead–nobody wants to pretend to be us.
Ever.
OWB: I have no problem with people wearing old BDU’s hunting as long as they don’t have name tapes, CIB’s, unit patches, etc. still sewn on them.
Time was every other hippie wore an OD utility jacket, some with peace signs on the back. Whatever. I don’t see this as poser enabling whatsoever and I would not be offended to see some kid wearing those silly jackets. On the other hand, if I saw one with, say, a PH on it, I think I would ask a few questions of the wearer and, if the answers were wrong, go berserk.
I have a camo jacket…old woodland pattern. Got it off my first boat probably 20 years ago (or more–yeesh.) Hardly ever wear it, but it has NO unit patches, rank, etc.
That I don’t have a problem with. Start putting Ranger tabs, rank, etc., on them, BIG problem.
I understand the point that people have had access to and been wearing military patches for years…but that doesn’t make it right. If one cannot purchase and wear the patches police officers do then why is it okay for people to purchase and wear military patches?
Cool. I’ve always wanted to be an Army Staff Sergeant AND a Senior Ariman.
Don’t get your shorts in a bunch over this. It isn’t anything new.
There were lots of people who wore Army greens blouses in the 1970s, some of them spattered with chicken blood to make it look like they’d come from Vietnam. There was a photo in Glamour magazine one month of some girl wearing a WAVES WWII uniform that she found in the thrift shop.
And look a little closer at the denim jacket. Army chevron and Air Force rank badge on the same piece of clothing? Who would think it’s anything but some kid wearing a silly design? I wouldn’t.
But yes, do ask that they stop doing this kind of but be polite about it. Say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’, like adults. No cussing, no threats, just be polite.
Geez, if I could still fit into my dark blues, I might wear them occasionally over at McDs’. That would confuse the living shit out of any sailors who show up there. All they wear now is whites, dark blues, their ‘peanut butters’.
Some of you may recall this has happened before with Army blessing. My wife thought I might like to have one of the sweat suit jackets with the 1ID patch on it. Said jacket still sits unused in the closet, and not just because I don’t like PT.
https://kb.defense.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/670/~/big-red-one-patch-on-civilian-clothing
And, anyway, Blood Sweat and Tears is a rock group.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=blood+sweat+and+tears+youtube&FORM=VIRE4#view=detail&mid=8367C635464A2F4AFE448367C635464A2F4AFE44
I would point out to the guy wearing (almost correctly) the 1st TSC patch, that it is affectionately known as “the leaning outhouse”. Repeat as necessary with other patches (“electric strawberry”, “chokin’ chicken”, “gaggin’ dragon”, etc).
Whether you care or not, it is still illegal to wear the uniforms of US armed forces, medals, ribbons, patches, insignia, badges et al if not entitled as per Title 18.
Separate from Stolen Valor this has been on the books for years.
Now back to reality, seldom prosecuted unless coupled with other more serious charges, there is a purpose for such laws and that is to deter.
So here you have a Euro Trash company that uses skinny girly men as models and sells this crap to the do nothing, entitled, can’t read or write, generation. Think about it … The perfect crowd!
I say fine. Everytime I see one of these fuck sticks in NYC I ask, “where did you serve?”. And the response spawns a priceless conversation where the Master Chief makes the offender feel like a POS!
BTW. There is a tee shirt company out there that uses the Navy ranks (crows) and CPO rate badges on all there products. Those uncomfortable conversations are the best.
I grew up in the Midwest during the seventies and eighties. There and then, most people seen wearing GI insignia sewn onto civilian attire were seen and regarded as just another fleabag hippie. After seeing what this outfit is charging for their overpriced thrift shop rejects, I’ll just regard anyone I see wearing any of that as just another brainless douchebag!!
A fool and their money are soon parted.
And the same fool will get parted with their scroll I I come across them….
I’ll enjoy seeing the look on their faces the moment I ask them if they know just what those patches represent!!
This is no different than when John Lennon was on Dick Cavett wearing a fatigue shirt with 2nd Infantry division patch and Sergeant stripes. Hipsters trying to be hip.
@26. You can buy all of the police patches you want, legally. I would guess that in most jurisdictions, it is perfectly legal to wear a police patch on, say, a denim jacket.
Anytime I see a pencil-necked, long-haired, bug-eyed kid running around in a ratty OD green shirt with a military patch on it, I just think “brainless turd.” And I’m with Proud Infidel–every now and again a vet will step in front of one of these kids and just kind of LOOK at them. Normally there are a few words spoken. Generally, the kid turns about the color of paper and disappears shortly thereafter.
Meh. There are things out there that are worth getting worked up over.
This isn’t one of them.
And those of us old enough to remember the 60’s and 70’s have seen this before. It will pass, just like it did back then.
Although the fact that they’re charging $85-plus for this crap further proves the adage of a fool and his money.
Sent their PR department a E-Mail. said you may want to reconsider their plan- the patches may put their clients in a Stolen Valor Issues. People see the patch and make the assumptions that they are Military- And than : bam they screw up and say they are when their not. Either that or meets a pissed of RGR REGT member who adminester a W2W session.
#29,
Sears still carried some of their 1st ID clothing when I got to recruiting. I needed a t-shirt for Future Soldier PT one day, so I picked up a hat/shirt combo on clearance.
At the mall I recruited out of, at least, the Big Red One apparel wasn’t popular. Sears did away with it altogether in early 2009. I guess the concept of sporting a divisional patch only sat well with people who had actually served in that division (I wore my shirt once or twice, and the hat was worn exactly once before it was discolored by sweat–as a Light guy, I didn’t care for wearing a Mechanized patch I hadn’t earned).
The funny thing about the $60 BDU jacket is that no one tends to want them, except maybe for “trendy” kids. Prior to joining I had an impressive amount of surplus, most of which I sold off before heading to Benning. The BDU pants went quick, as laborers love using them for work pants. The field jackets were also popular. I don’t think I sold a single blouse, though. I couldn’t even give them away with the pants. Somewhere I still have at least ten BDU jackets that went unsold back then, and which were unusable earlier in my career. Maybe Urban Outfitters is looking for some more “Urban Renewal Vintage Oversized Camo Jackets”!
Holy shit. Just looked up the vest with the ranger scroll and it reads “this product is no longer available”. Was it always like that or did UOjust do the right thing.
I saw this last night and posted about it, then I posted the email I sent to them. I had my cousin (who just got out of the Military 2 years early her 1st time in due to being pregnant) say “It’s not such a big deal, you can tell it’s not real.” That pissed me off and I can’t tell you why. I am use to people not agreeing with me, but that just bothered me.
Anywho, this is not the only trouble I have with Urban Outfitters. They are famous for watching what’s “hot” on Etsy, the “flea market” of the internet, and ripping off small designers. They’ll take the idea of some kid trying to work through school or a Grandmother trying to make ends meet by making homemade items. Urban will come along steal the idea mass produce it and at a lower price. I know of at least 3 people they have put out of business doing this. It’s legal and I know that but it’s also tacky and fucked up!
So maybe I am “jumping on the hate wagon” but I just don’t like the company in the first place, and if a Ranger tells me he’s offended and pissed off over these shirts, well that’s good enough for me. SO someone grab my hand and help up on the wagon, I fell off. heh!
@30 PH2 – amen. Here’s to “Hi-De-Hi” and “And When I Die”…
According to the Consumerist UO pulled the vest from its line-up today! They still have the jean jacket with an air force patch though.
http://consumerist.com/2013/09/03/urban-outfitters-learns-not-to-anger-the-army-rangers/
They have left up on their site numerous other items still adorned with Military Insignia. In fact one in the womans section is a BDU Jacket that looks like it came out of some soldiers Wall Locker, complete with Name Tape, US Army, Rank, and just for good measure an Air Assault Badge.
They only pulled the Ranger Scroll item….
#16 and #40,
I happened to go into one of their stores for the first time just last Saturday. Hipster crap it is (“OBEY”? WTF?), and then I saw a pair of used surplus BDU trousers, nothing added to them in the way of patches, with a price tag of $79.95. At first I thought that the store was designed expressly for idiots, but then I realized that most 18 – 20 year olds probably don’t know that the Woodland pattern was what we used to wear way back when, since they’re so used to seeing ACU and MARPAT in the news. So for them, what is old really is new again.
So instead of buying them at a military slurpus store, they’re paying idiotically high prices for them. P.T. Barnum was RIGHT!!
Wow americans are truly obsessed with their army and “honor” and stuff like that.
It’s a freaking piece of cloth with a design on it…. how does that exactly affect you? If you went to war and earned the real thing, well, you’ll always know you did and that should be more than enough.
Seriously, i can’t imagine something like this happening in my country because of some fake military symbol on clothing…..it’s just retarded.