Urban Outfitters said they were not trying to exploit depression in any way, but trying to help another companies name on the shirt for publicity.

 

“Hey everyone,” Urban outfitters claimed, “we hear you and we are taking the shirt down from the site”(Krupnik). 

 

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Urban Outfitters has been in the tabloids. Two years before the “depression” shirt, they sold a v-­neck shirt that said “eat less” on the front. This also created a huge outburst as it seemed to be a direct message that almost mocked anorexia. Since this also became a big part of social media, they took the picture of the shirt off the website. Sadly, Urban Outfitters kept selling the T­shirt, only in larger sizes (Halper).

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Not only does Urban Outfitters sell clothing about mental illnesses, but they also sold a shirt from Kent State University. This shirt seems to have some sort of blood stain or splatter, resembling a massacre from the 1970s. Urban Outfitters made a model of the shirt with bullet wounds and many splatters of blood stains. Of course, the company admits to not knowing anything about the University and its horror. The lesson Urban Outfitters should be learning, is to stop making clothing that ends up offending an entire society. (history.com)

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Unfortunately, Urban Outfitters is not the only one creating these horrible designs. The year 2015 marked the 20th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death. Two men known as ‘spice teen’, on etsy, had begun selling baseball tees and tank tops printed with his suicide letter (Payne). The note included admiration for his wife Courtney Love and his daughter Frances (Payne). Not suprisingly, the creators got a lot of negativity from others not liking their spin on a memorial product (Payne). This product was sold on websites such as Etsy and Ebay but were quickly taken off the shelves (Boardman). Many were blowing up Twitter saying things such as, “Kurt Cobain did not die to become a fashion trend” (Rhia).

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In the same fashion, some think products with the glamorization of drugs and alcohol have less impact than a suicide letter would. Many people walk around with clothing that have marijuana leaves and items with alcohol products printed on them and don’t see a problem with it but, aside from common belief, there is a problem.

 

A popular L.A. boutique called “Kitson” has been making black jersey­-style sweatshirts that glorify different drug names such as ‘Adderall’, ‘Xanax’, and ‘Vicodin’ on the back (Peppers). The creators of these drugs have threatened to sue Kitson for making these shirts and endorsing their product names in an ‘ignorant and irresponsible’ manner (Peppers). The website's description for the clothing item was “Pop one and you'll feel better. Doctors order.” (Czachon). The outrage from people about this product was tremendous.

 

 

Contrasting to the glamorization of mental illness, a company called “Wear Your Label” came out with shirts that raise awareness of mental health instead. They want the people who are suffering to accept who they are as a person who deals with a mental illness everyday. Some of their clothing says, ‘self care isn’t selfish’, ‘stressed but well­ dressed’, and ‘sad but rad’. They also have bracelets that have certain colors for each illness. “Mental illness is invisible, you can’t see it,” says Kyle Maclvenin the co­founder of Wear Your Label. “When you break your arm, you get a cast. It’s a symbol to the world that something happened and you’re getting better. We try to do that with our clothing. So it says ‘I’m going through something, but i’m working on it.”

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As can be seen, this company is trying to be the ‘cast’ for mental illness, to prove to people that this isn’t something to be thrown on a shirt and called quality clothing. This is a disease which should not be turned into a fashion statement. So maybe making clothing that teaches the mental illness community to love themselves, isn’t bad, but shows people what it’s like to have a positive outlook on the disease itself. (Marini)

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Overall, glamorizing mental illness for profit is a serious problem in today’s society. Companies online and offline have led many people to believe that it is okay to sell products that, some think, are humorous. As has been noted, raising awareness for mental illness is one step closer to getting to where this generation where it should be. But maybe the real problem is, we don’t have the proper knowledge of how mental illness affects others. Or maybe, choosing to show empathy is something no one wants to understand.