J.Crew's Controversial Jacket {oh crap!}

Well, J.Crew found themselves in a bit of controversy with one of their offerings, the Belstaff® Trialmaster jacket (Item 22979; $795.00), formerly known as the Belstaff® Che Guevara Replica Jacket.

If you do a Google search on this topic, you will find a handful of consumers outraged that J.Crew would associate themselves with Che Guevara. As a result, J.Crew quickly renamed the jacket by omitting the name altogether.

I am not going to go into the whole Che Guevara discussion (there are lots of other blogs, books, etc. that already do, and are much better informed than me on the topic). Instead, I like to say that I am happy to hear that J.Crew quickly reacted to consumers' concerns (no matter what the issue is at hand). However, I am left wondering why J.Crew would even bother including the name in the first place, knowing there could be some sort of controversy around it.

When I think of J.Crew, the last thing I think of is "controversial". There are some other fashion houses I might think of... like Calvin Klein with those super skinny (almost strung out) models like Kate Moss back in the '90s, or the recent Ralph Lauren ads that show ridiculously thin models with heads bigger than their hips (refer here), or Karl Lagerfeld's recent quote (refer here). But definitely not J.Crew.

The last time (that I can remember) where J.Crew found itself in some trouble was in 2005. In one of their catalogs they offered several pieces of clothes and footwear with real fur trim (like the puffer vest in the image to the left). After protests from organized groups and many angry consumer complaints, J.Crew pulled all the pieces from their stores and online. Which is why I found it odd that J.Crew's newest arrivals included the Shadow Shearling Jacket (Item 20889; $2,500.00).

So here's to hoping that J.Crew learns from the past and avoids the serious controversy. And that the most controversial aspect to J.Crew is how the Silk Taffeta Belted Short (Item 20103; $118.00) made it to Jenna's Picks as one of her "forever pieces" (refer to here).