Culture .. Ignorance probably more than appropriation.
Fashion designer, Ralph Lauren put the letters of Black Greek Organization, Phi Beta Sigma on a pair of jeans to sell.
I'm not sure WHO approved or even brought up the idea of adding these letters to the clothing, but they were quickly dragged as soon as several social media pages saw the pieces of clothing circulating online.
The company released this statement,
“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.
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.”
Since reporting this story, Ralph Lauren concluded that they reached out to the fraternity and all product has been pulled from sales.