- The brand that sold black and yellow kilts to certain Proud Boys said it was "disgusted" to see members of the far-right group wearing the LGBTQ-made clothing items.
- "We're against everything they stand for," Verillas, a Virginia-based company, said in a tweet.
- The far-right extremist group previously faced criticism from the British brand Fred Perry after adopting their black-and-yellow shirts.
The brand that sold black and yellow kilts to members of the Proud Boys, a right-wing militant group, said it was "disgusted to see members of a fascist terrorist organization wearing our products."
Several Proud Boys members were pictured wearing the kilts, made by Verillas, a Virginia-based company, at a Saturday protest staged by supporters of President Donald Trump. The Proud Boys is an extremist group that's become increasingly supportive of the president since he told them to "stand back" and "stand by" during a presidential debate. Members of the group typically wear black-and-yellow clothing.
The company responded to the outfits on Twitter. "Disgusted to see members of a fascist terrorist organization wearing our products. We're a LGBTQIA+ owned, operated, designed and lived," the company said in a tweet. "We're against everything they stand for."
Verillas added that since there appeared to be $750 worth of the company's attire in a picture of Proud Boys that went viral, they donated $1,000 to the NAACP "to redirect hate to love."
The owner of Verillas, Allister Greenbrier, told the BBC in an interview that he "was appalled, angry and frustrated because they are the opposite of everything our brand stands for." Greenbrier, who is gay, said that the men claimed they were part of a metal band searching for the kilts when they made the purchase, according to the BBC.
"I can't control who buys my product, but if they're buying our product, they're putting their money towards a good cause and I think they won't be too happy when they find out they accidentally bought from a company that's really fighting for the opposite of what they believe in," Greenbrier told the BBC.
The Proud Boys have become increasingly visible in recent months, as they have made frequent appearances at Trump rallies and have been involved in violence at protests of the results of the 2020 presidential election. The group, which is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, self-identifies as a fraternity of "Western chauvinists" and its members often espouse white supremacist beliefs.
Kris McGuffie, the deputy director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, previously told Insider that the group "purports to be against white supremacy, while overtly promoting the precise theories and narratives that white supremacists are known for."
It's not the first time a clothing brand has had to publicly distance itself from the Proud Boys. The group's unofficial uniform is a black-and-yellow collared shirt from the British clothing brand Fred Perry. In a September 24 statement, the British brand said it would stop selling the shirts in the US or Canada "until we're satisfied that its association with the Proud Boys has ended."
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