Gymboree Pulls ‘Holocaust Dress’ from Shelves

From Yeshiva World News by Nat Golden:

Gymboree has pulled a dress after receiving complaints its “snowflake” design resembled the Star of David Jews were forced to wear on their clothing during the Holocaust.

Sophie Cohen of Owings Mills, Maryland, spotted the dress in question on Thursday on Gymboree’s website, on sale for $26.97.

“This image flashed in my mind of the Jewish star patches that people wore in the Holocaust. I was like, I know this is supposed to be a snowflake, but it isn’t. It’s red. Snowflakes aren’t red! The placement of it didn’t sit right with me. The resemblance!,” Cohen told Newsweek.

She posted a screenshot on Facebook alongside a black-and-white photo of a Jewish family wearing Star of David badges on their chests. She wrote in her post: “I don’t consider myself to be someone who is easily offended but I was looking at the Gymboree website looking for holiday dresses for my kids and ran across this dress. I suddenly got a pit in my stomach. I think this image speaks for itself. #neverforget #notok.”

As of Sunday, the “Buffalo Plaid Dress” was no longer available on Gymboree’s website, according to comments left on Cohen’s Facebook post.

Gymboree had not yet commented.

9 Comments

  • RCL

    Not sure why this is offensive. Dovid hamelech proudly wore it in his shield, it’s a symbol of strength and bravery. Remember too, we survived! We are still here!

    Why is it ok for Jews to use the symbol in logos, on shuls and more but if someone else uses it then we have a problem.

    #snowflakes

  • glad

    Im glad this made the news.
    Awareness
    I’m shocked this was designed!!
    I’de like to know by whom.

  • hopeful

    For the same reason if you say the n word to an n you are a racist. Ever hear them say the n word to another n? ALWAYS! Does that answer your question?

  • What

    It is so obviously not a snowflake. If that is what they wanted to make the star would have been on a different angle.

  • Milhouse

    I know this is supposed to be a snowflake, but it isn’t. It’s red. Snowflakes aren’t red!

    Guess what — nor were the yellow stars the nazis made us wear. It’s obvious that they couldn’t make the snowflake white or it wouldn’t stand out against the black-and-white design, so they went with a bright color. Yellow would obviously have been a bad choice, but they didn’t make that mistake.

    It is so obviously not a snowflake. If that is what they wanted to make the star would have been on a different angle.

    Really? What angle are snowflakes on? Snowflakes are symmetrical and can be depicted at any angle.

  • jdf007

    You have to look at he zoomed in photo to even see the so-called “snowflake” characteristic. The first image looks like a red star. I imagine seeing this from at least several feet in person, it would still look like a red star. And why on that location of the dress? And why such a random object? Aside from the fact that, it does look like the yellow star image, in shape, and location, what is the point of this stupid design? You take dresses and put random objects/patches on it now and that is fashion??

  • Milhouse

    Why a snowflake? Because they’re pretty.

    When you put on a name tag, where do you put it? Same with a brooch or button; where do you put it? Where do designers put their logs? All in that location. And it’s been so for a very long time. Why do you think the nazis put the stars there in the first place? They didn’t choose it at random; they did it because that is the obvious place to put all such things.