UK retailer apologises for 'Om Ganesha' leggings, to withdraw from sale after row

A British online retailer on Tuesday apologised for a popular range of 'Om Ganesha' leggings and announced to withdraw them from sale after a protest by a US-based Hindu group. AMiCAFOX, a London-headquartered eco-friendly company behind a wide range of fashion and fitness leggings, was selling the black and white range with the holy symbol of OM along with an Image of Hindu deity Lord Ganesha.

In the product description, the company described the leggings as inspired by the Hindu deity and termed it a symbol of new beginnings. The leggings were being sold for 30 pounds a piece and was very popular among women of all age groups.

"I am saddened that I have caused offence to Hindu people through the use of printing Om and Ganesha on a pair of my leggings. This was never my intention and I am truly sorry," news agency PTI quoted Emily Jane, a fashion model and co-founder of AMiCAFOX, which produces its entire fitness range of leggings from recycled plastic bottles, as saying.

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"They will be removed for my website and others I sell on within the next 48 hours and they will no longer be a part of the AMiCAFOX clothing range," she told the agency.

However, the leggings were still being sold on the website of AMiCAFOX at the time publishing this report. On its website, the company said the style which is now on its way out was one of the very first products to be made by the company when it launched in 2014 and remain one of its most popular items.

The leggings attracted the attention of Rajan Zed, the US-based president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, recently, who called on AMiCAFOX to withdraw the style because Lord Ganesha was meant to be worshipped in temples and shrines and not to adorn legs.

(With PTI Inputs)