Zara has withdrawn a skirt with a frog design from its website after social media users noted its resemblance to Pepe, a cartoon popular with the so-called alt-right.

The denim skirt, embroidered with cartoon frogs wearing sunglasses, was being sold as part of the brand’s “festival edition”. But Twitter users were quick to point out its similarities to the Pepe cartoon:

Writer Meagan Fredette spotted the skirt and told Dazed: “My immediate thought was holy shit, they have no idea what they are doing here, do they?”

The original link to the skirt on Zara’s website now redirects to its front page.

A spokesperson for the company said the skirt has “absolutely no link” to Pepe or the alt-right.

“The skirt is part of the limited Oil-On-Denim collection which was created through collaborations with artists and is only available in selected markets,” the spokesperson said.

“The designer of the skirt is Mario de Santiago, known online as Yimeisgreat. Mario explores social interactions through his work and in his own words: ‘The idea came from a wall painting I drew with friends four years ago.’

“There is absolutely no link to the suggested theme.”

Pepe the Frog was created by cartoonist Matt Furie, who originally envisaged him as a “chill” and “good-natured” frog. However, over the course of the American electoral campaign, Pepe transformed from an amusing star of weird memes to a white supremacist symbol denounced by the Anti-Defamation League.



Furie has since teamed up with the ADL in an attempt to reclaim Pepe. He said: “It’s the worst-case scenario for any artist to lose control of their work and eventually have it labelled like a swastika or a burning cross.”

This is not the first time Zara has got into trouble with an ill-judged clothing design. In 2014, they pulled a children’s striped shirt with a yellow star after complaints that it looked like the clothing worn by Holocaust victims.

In 2007, an embroidered handbag was withdrawn from sale after customers noticed it was decorated with green swastikas.