A Gap in Judgement

Do I spend too much time writing about the Gap? Sorry. Last one. This week. Although I'm not one to critique in my blog, I felt compelled to write about my disappointment. Besides, I've never hidden the fact that this is often my personal therapy session.

Kiddo is tall and skinny. He has a tiny waist and no hips. When I walked into Abercrombie kids for the first time a couple years ago, I thought "Oh, THIS is who can wear their clothes!" He has an athletic, muscular build and zero curves. The exact opposite of me. Which is why I've never been able to wear their stuff. But I digress.

Because of his build, he wears mostly Gap pants. They have the adjustable waist and length he needs; he has a size 10 waist but size 12 legs. I keep my eyes out for sales and store clearance, stocking up on various sizes as he grows. This spring, Gap.com was having a great sale in addition to a percent off purchase discount code.  I loaded up on staples that he can wear over the next year or so.

I came across this cool t-shirt with a flying bird on it. From what I could tell online, it was composed of musical instruments and other funky objects. Great! I got it and put it in the "Too Big" tote. I pulled it out the other day and was so bummed!  I've always counted on Gap for high quality, appropriate clothing. But this shirt was an epic fail.

Here's why:

 

There are guns all over it! Let's be clear: I take full responsibility for not noticing them when I ordered. But in all fairness, they were hard to see online and I've always trusted Gapkids to have appropriate clothing. I suppose I got complacent.

Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but I would NEVER send my child to school in a shirt with weapons on it. The guns aren't huge, but definitely noticeable. Now that I know they are there, I zero right in on them. Most schools have rules against that anyway. And this shirt was made in size 4/5 up. So I had to wonder: what were they thinking when they made it?

It's a little late to do anything now, so the shirt has been resigned to his pajama drawer. From now on I will use the zoom tool to check all printed items closely before buying online. But I'm bummed that the trust isn't there anymore.