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Ralph Lauren tried it.
The upscale clothing giant attempted to sell a pair of chinos adorned with the Phi Beta Sigma Greek letters on its French site until Watch the Yard got word of it. The site rallied the Greek fraternity and other Divine 9 members to reach out to Ralph Lauren and ask them to remove the garment. The chino pants, which reportedly cost $335.77, featured the Greek letters on the top of the knee.
READ MORE: #theGrioLive: Being A Black Greek (VIDEO)
The public campaign appears to have worked and now a Ralph Lauren spokesperson is apologizing.
“The use of these symbols on our products was an oversight for which we deeply apologize. We are immediately taking action to remove the product from our sales channels. While we have a rigorous review process in place for all of our designs, this has prompted us to take another review of our protocols to help ensure that this does not happen again,” the company said in a statement, according to Watch the Yard.
“As an American brand with more than 50 years of heritage, Ralph Lauren is inspired by many facets of American culture. As part of this, we are firmly committed to respectful and appropriate use of all cultural icons and insignias,” the statement adds.
The company ended the note by stating that “the chinos will be removed from all sales channels” and that they have reached out to Phi Beta Sigma to inform them.
Watch the Yard, a media company that covers the Black college experience, first reported the story on Monday. According to the organization’s website, within three hours of the story running, Ralph Lauren had issued a statement and vowed to pull the pants from its shelves, which illustrates the power of unity and determination.
Watch the Yard celebrated its successful campaign on Instagram.
“Earlier today we published a story about pants, which are being sold for 299.99€ on Ralph Lauren’s site with Phi Beta Sigma printed on them. Within three hours of us reporting on the story, an official Ralph Lauren spokesperson reached out to Watch The Yard and told us that they are taking the pants off of all sales channels and gave us an exclusive statement explaining themselves,” they captioned the post.
Divine 9 Greeks also shared their excitement for the achievement.
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“Watch The Yard y’all got RALPH LAUREN a major brand to take down a product internationally in less that 3 hours?! Y’all really are out here advocating for Black greekdom! This platform is so powerful and needed. Keep up the good work! #keepprotectingtheculture #WatchTheYardIsForThePeople,” wrote sofreshnupe_.
“This platform is important and necessary! Great work!!!!” added limitededitionxxv.