Monetizing school shootings: ‘Sickening and Insensitive’

A streetwear brand is facing heavy criticism for its decision to debut a line of hoodies riddled with mock bullet holes and emblazoned with the names of schools famous for mass shootings.

Shown off this week at a fashion show in New York as part of Bstroy’s spring 2020 collection, the sweatshirts were posted to Instagram by the company and featured Columbine, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Sandy Hook, and Virginia Tech. They have since removed the Virginia Tech sweatshirt from Instagram.

Kyle Kashuv, a survivor of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 of his classmates died, responded, “I would just like to say, what actual the hell is wrong with you. goddamn monetizing off a school shooting. disgusting.”

An Instagram user whose biography says she is a current student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote:

“I see you look at what happened at our school as a ‘joke’ but there’s nothing funny about losing 17 lives. Your parents must be so proud!”

Another apparent survivor added, “My dead classmates dying should not be a f—ing fashion statement.”

Overall the creations were met with complaints and comments about how ‘sickening and insensitive’ it is to ‘use dead children for profit’.

The Vicki Soto Memorial Fund, which was created in honor of a teacher who died in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, posted, “what you are doing here is absolutely disgusting, hurtful, wrong and disrespectful.”

“You’ll never know what our family went through after Vicki died protecting her students,” it added.

Bstroy founder Brick Owens posted a note on Instagram Monday that said “sometimes life can be painfully ironic.”

“Like the irony of dying violently in a place you consider to be a safe, controlled environment, like school. We are reminded all the time of life’s fragility, shortness, and unpredictability yet we are also reminded of its infinite potential,” the note read.