The Navajo Nation is the latest group to file a lawsuit against Urban Outfitters. The move comes months after the tribe sent a cease and desist to the retailer demanding they pull the "Navajo" name from products. As Sasha Houston Brown, a Native American activist, wrote in her open letter to the store last Columbus Day, they sell what she believes to be "culturally offensive" items, like plastic dreamcatchers, artificial feather jewelry, and hyper sexualized clothing with faux tribal patterns. Amongst the items that are a part of their "Navajo collection" flasks and hipster panties. more ›

A number of Congressional leaders are blasting Urban Outfitters for selling St. Patrick's Day merchandise that mocks people of Irish descent for acting like obnoxious, binge-drinking idiots every March 17th. It's unclear where Urban Outfitters got this notion, or why they think it's funny, but the company is in hot water with New York Democratic Rep. Joseph Crowley, who says, "By selling and promoting these items, Urban Outfitters is only fueling stereotypes that many Irish Americans, as well as the people of Ireland, work so hard to dispel." Got it, people? These are stereotypes. That Urban Outfitters beer jug labeled “Leprechaun Piss" is not literally for leprechaun piss. more ›

Last year Urban Outfitters and photographer Jason Lee Parry got into some trouble after a 15-year-old model named Hailey Clauson was featured in an "X-rated" print on a t-shirt sold in the store. Parry was the photographer, and the model's parent's filed a lawsuit against him and the retailer in Manhattan Federal Court. Yesterday, about six months after filing, a Manhattan federal judge dismissed the $28 million suit, at least against Parry, who the judge said “is not subject to jurisdiction under New York law." According to the NY Post, this is because the photo was shot in California. Urban Outfitters, however, remains a defendant in the case. At the time, Blood is the New Black (who made the shirt in question), told us: more ›

Urban Outfitters is in hot water after hawking a t-shirt that featured an X-rated print of a 15-year-old girl. The photo was originally taken by photographer Jason Lee Parry (who specializes in topless photography) last year. He is now being sued by the model's parents—the retailer, and two other stores (including Brandy & Melville in SoHo) are also part of the suit. The teen's parents filed yesterday in Manhattan Federal Court, and say while they knew about the photoshoot (which was for a magazine), and the specific photo, they never approved it for the shirts. more ›

Mere hours after they invoked the wrath of one Miley Cyrus for "stealing" an Etsy designer's secret NY necklace sauce, Urban Outfitters has taken to their blog to respond to the "false allegations" by the designer, Stephanie Koerner. After claiming that they've been "supporting the Etsy community for years," the company states that "a quick search of Etsy for 'state necklace' reveals several other sellers with similar products (as seen here on Regretsy) who offered their wares as much as a year earlier than Ms. Koerner." more ›

Yesterday, it was discovered that Urban Outfitters had yet again ripped off the work of an independent designer, this time profiting disproportionately on the designs, descriptive copy and love for New York of Etsy seller Stevie Koerner, AKA Truche. Today, the story reached Miley Cyrus, and provoked her well-trained righteous indignation: "Not only [does Urban Outfitters] steal from artists," she tweeted, "but every time you give them money you help finance a campaign against gay equality." She followed up by quoting Rick Santorum, the "paleolithic" anti-Gay Republican senator to whom the CEO of Urban Outfitters has donated over $13,000, a second reason for her rage. But now there's a twist: Koerner is hardly the first jewelry maker to have the idea of slapping a heart shape on the silhouette of a U.S. state. more ›

Know who's interested in buying J. Crew? Sears and Urban Outfitters. According to Bloomberg News, the two wildly different retail chains are "weighing rival bids.. in a potential challenge to TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners LP’s $3 billion buyout." An analyst said if Sears bought it, it "would be great for Sears, but horrible for J. Crew... J. Crew is positioned as aspirational and Sears is not. It would have a negative impact on the J. Crew brand," adding it doesn't make sense for Urban Outfitters either because UO and J.Crew have overlapping customers. more ›

This fall, Urban Outfitters continues their quest to conquer every surface of the earth with their unique brand of irony—and you, Upper West Side, are next. The retailer is opening up its second location in the neighborhood, but this one will look like "a hat store, a hardware store, a neighborhood bar and a bodega" from the outside. The creative director who designed the storefront told the Wall Street Journal, "the whole idea was to do this kind of ironic statement of lining the building with storefronts that would be reminiscent of independent businesses." Take that shuttered mom and pop shops, you're just a throwback whose nostalgic design qualities will be used to peddle mass-produced goods, like the $110 Loomstate Bodega Tank (pictured). [via Racked] more ›

Well this is simply shocking: Urban Outfitters is allegedly taking original designs, mass producing them, and reselling them for a low, low price at their store. Crazy, right? What next, novelty t-shirts and coffee table books?! more ›

In light of H&M and the city recently trashing perfectly good items that could have gone to charity, one blogger at Tree Hugger digs deeper to find out how Urban Outfitters handles their unwanted goods. She happened to stumble upon a bunch of boxes outside of their 14th Street and 6th Avenue store, all taped up with the words "broken" adorning them. more ›

Polaroid dead? Not yet! Urban Outfitters has teamed up with The Impossible Project to sell "a limited edition 700 hand-numbered deadstock Polaroid camera kits," which will include the much sought after and nearly extinct Polaroid Instant Film, and the Polaroid ONE600 Classic. These are the last of what's left, and it all goes on sale tomorrow (price is still unknown). The Williamsburgsters are not happy about this. Vintage Polaroid is their thing, Urban Outfitters; you can't just co-opt hipster style and sell it off to the masses. Anyway, one poster says, "I do not think anyone will buy a Polaroid at UO and do anything meaningful with it. There, I said it." Alright, Polaroid is so over, everyone get Lomos now. FML! more ›

Sigh. The Post's Steve Cuozzo reveals that the former Metro Theater, on the Upper West Side at Broadway and 99th Street, will become a 15,000 square foot Urban Outfitters over three-and-a-half floors: "It will be the seventh Manhattan location for the teen-oriented clothing chain, which bucked prevailing trends and enjoyed a 31 percent earnings increase last year." The 20-year lease is "worth $1 million a year to start with 12 percent increases every five years." more ›

what else they come up with." So do we: While not as confounding as its print ad, it's curious that they used the Yankees NY logo, as the Bombers are in the Bronx. (Yes, it's clever to use the Y and N that way, but it's not very Brooklyn!) more ›

This advertisement for an Urban Outfitters store opening tomorrow among the antique shops and Middle Eastern markets of Atlantic Avenue, in Brooklyn, is rather befuddling. more ›

For the second year running, the Food Bank for New York City and the Lunchbox Fund of South Africa have enlisted over 100 celebrities in their holiday fundraiser. Boldface names like Kanye West, Elton John, Cameron Diaz, Mike Meyers, William Wegman and, um, Urban Outfitters, have created personalized, autographed lunchboxes that are now onsale via online auction. At Thursday night's kick-off event at Saatchi & Saatchi, a lunchbox by Michael Stipe was snatched up... more ›

The NY Times is hinting that Brooklyn may be so over, a theory that seems to be based around Heath Ledger leaving the borough.

What if Brooklyn’s recent cachet as the locus for what’s next is little more than a thin and fragile crust of chic, hiding the insecurity of people who constantly measure the social currency of their ZIP code by Manhattan standards? The number of trendy boutiques, bistros and music clubs in Brooklyn may have spiked in the last five years, but its infrastructure of cool still represents only a fraction of that found in Manhattan. Its new identity is moored to a finite number of shops, restaurants, luxury condominiums and, yes, celebrities. If even one leaves, a void is created. Could the borough’s new status vanish as quickly as it ascended?

The Village Voice is reporting that Hilly Kristal was a millionaire. Not really surprising considering the owner of CBGB, who claimed to be broke, ran more than just a venue. Just look at all those kids wearing their Urban Outfitters t-shirts with the club's logo on it. Those cost money! So does everything branded with their logo at their own store.

Just weeks after the legendary former CBGB owner passed away, his heirs—who thought Kristal was broke—are finding out that the old punk impresario was worth a surprising $3.7 million. more ›

The NY Times takes a look at Smith Street and the corporate companies creeping into the area and setting up shop. The most recent big announcement is that Trader Joe's is taking over the old bank on Atlantic Avenue and Court Street. How long until more big fish come to feed? more ›

EVENT: If you haven't taken a trip back to the Summer of Love yet, head over to the Whitney tonight for the exhibit and enjoy their Whitney Live event. DJ Scientific and Dana Leong will be providing the tunes. more ›

Earlier this year, The Sun reported that AvalonBay Communities would "begin construction this summer on a 42-story, residential market-rate tower with approximately 600 units. The property will have ground floor retail, which could house the borough's first Trader Joe's market." And even earlier this year it was suspected that TJ's would move into One Brooklyn Bridge Park. more ›

The Tomato Diaries' Sally Tomato emailed us to say that the infernal corner of constant construction at West 13th Street and 6th Avenue was finally paved. Sure, the rest of the street looks like "a car bomb" happened there, which means construction workers will be there for a while, but for anyone who attends the New School, goes to the Urban Outfitters or xando or Quad, or simply walks in that part of town, it reminds you that years and years of work can bring back a glistening.sidewalk, ripe for gum and future cracking. more ›

Forget about Bratz - photoblogger David Gallagher has found what should be what every young girl (or boy) should get this holiday season: The How to Be a Journalist kit, at KMart! The secrets of journalism are unlocked through the power of glitter, confetti flowers, lockable journal and an . Yes! Screw the Nellie Bly approach - we truly will be breeding a future generation of Mo Dowds, Judith Millers, Mary Mapeses, and Diane Sawyers! more ›

Stacey Blume, Designer/Owner Blume more ›

For those of you not going, or for those who haven't left yet, check out the SXSW player which streams all of the bands playing this year. more ›

Father Joe: Lesson number one to Ashlee should have been that usually singers can change the songs they sing midway through. Think Elvis Costello's 1977 SNL appearance, when he started to play Less Than Zero but then switched to Radio, Radio; SNL hadn't wanted him to play Radio, Radio, which criticized his record label, but Elvis showed them. Anyway, Gothamist did think that Ashlee sounded surprisingly less screechy during first song Pieces of Me (we've seen her MTV show, and boy, can she not really sing), so it wasn't a surprise that she lip synced - the shock and surprise is that it was unveiled like this. Ashlee's limited talent aside, we'd like to point out that the fish stinks from the head - management, record labels, the marketing machine, etc., for encouraging and supporting a culture of lip syncers, and the fact is that tons of singers do it. Odds are that Ashlee will develop at least a very bad rash, if not another inferiority complex, from this incident. We can only wait for the next Teen People to address this. And the poor talent team of Jude Law - was the one supposed to be at the center of attention. more ›

Something we haven't seen in awhile: rain in the forecast, today, and for the next several days. High of 76, scattered thunderstorms. This from the special weather statement link: more ›