Urban Outfitters pulls bloody-looking Kent State sweatshirt

Hipster retailer Urban Outfitters​ ​apologized Monday for offering a one-off Kent State

​sweatshirt with faux​ bloodstains that recalled the 1970 student massacre at the Ohio university.​ ​

It pulled the 129​ US dollar​ garment from the women's wear section of its website​ ​after Kent State said it took "great offense to a company using our pain for​ ​their publicity and profit."​ ​Four students were killed, and nine injured, on May 4, 1970 when the Ohio​ ​National Guard opened fire on a mid-day campus protest against then-president​ ​Richard Nixon's expansion of the Vietnam war into Cambodia.​

​ The incident was immortalized in the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song​ ​"Ohio" and a Pulitzer prize-winning photo of a female protester crying out in​ ​anguish over the prone body of one of the slain students.​ ​"Urban Outfitters sincerely apologizes for any offense our Vintage Kent​ ​State Sweatshirt may have caused," the Philadelphia-based retailer said in a​ ​statement.​

​ "It was never our intention to allude to the tragic events that took place​ ​at Kent State in 1970 and we are extremely saddened that this item was​ ​perceived as such," it said.​ ​"The one-of-a-kind item was purchased as part of our sun-faded vintage​ ​collection. There is no blood on this shirt nor has this item been altered in​ ​any way," it added.​

​ "The red stains are​ a discoloration from the original shade of the shirt and​ ​the holes are from natural wear and fray."​ ​In a statement, Kent State -- with nearly 40,000 students -- said the sweatshirt "is beyond poor taste and trivializes a loss of life that still hurts the Kent State community today."​

​ "This shows the continued lowbrow of Wall Street, and Urban Outfitters​ ​continues to perpetuate a low standard of ethics," added Dean Kahler, 64, a​ ​freshman at Kent State when he was shot and left paralyzed for life,​ ​FoxNews.com reported.​ ​Urban Outfitters, with around 400 outlets in North America and Europe that​ ​target young and trendy city dwellers, is no stranger to controversy,​ ​particularly when it comes to some of its edgier designs.​

​ In 2012, a St Patrick's Day T-shirt that suggested Irish are drunkards​ ​prompted threats of a consumer boycott.​ ​Earlier this year, T-shirts emblazoned with the word "depression" were​ ​pulled from stores amid a social media campaign that deemed them to be​ ​"insensitive."​ ​

​Over the years, Jewish groups have condemned Urban Outfitters for T-shirts​ ​reminiscent of the six-pointed stars that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi​ ​Germany -- and for pitching Palestinian-style keffiyehs as "anti-war" scarves. ​(AFP)