Abercrombie & Fitch store in the San Fra

Days after hitting store shelves, new Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts featuring caricatured faces with slanted eyes and rice-paddy hats had Asian Americans in the Bay Area and beyond demanding a public apology from the retailer.
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Asian Americans recoiled upon seeing abercrombie outlet ...Customers at the Abercrombie & Fitch store in the San Fra... View Larger Images
The Midwestern clothier, which targets the young, affluent and active, said it was surprised by the mounting controversy over the T-shirt designs.
One has a slogan that says, "Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make It White." Beside the prominent lettering are two smiling figures in conical hats harking back to 1900s popular-culture depictions of Chinese men."We personally thought Asians would love this T-shirt," said Hampton Carney,with Paul Wilmot Communications in New York, the public relations firm where abercrombie referred a reporter's call.
"I wouldn't know how they could think that," said Austin Chung, 23, of Palo Alto, business manager for the quarterly Asian-focused magazine Monolid. "Abercrombie & Fitch is producing popular culture, and they cater to the views of the majority. You have to ask yourself, who benefits, who gets empowerment, from these kinds of images? It denigrates Asian men."
As word of the new T-shirts in Ruehl No.925 stores spread yesterday among university students and on far-reaching e-mail lists, plans shaped up for a late-night meeting in a Stanford dorm lounge.The subject: What to do about the series of themed T-shirts the retailer -- known for edgy advertising and skin-bearing advertising -- introduced Friday in stores and on its Web site.
"Wok-N-Bowl -- Let the Good Times Roll -- Chinese Food & Bowling," one design reads, with a stereotypical image similar to the figures on the Wong Brothers shirt."Abercrombie and Fitch Buddha Bash -- Get Your Buddha on the Floor," reads another shirt that shares display space in the youth-oriented, casual-clothing store.'TRULY AND DEEPLY SORRY'
The shirts were designed to appeal to young Asian shoppers with a sense of humor, Carney told The Chronicle yesterday.
The shirts were available for sale yesterday in the Abercrombie store at San Francisco Shopping Centre on Market Street. Whether they will remain on the shelves was unclear yesterday, the spokesman said.