The Portland Thorns are removing a T-shirt from store shelves and the team's website in response to criticism that its slogan "Feelin' Thorny?" was sexist.

The T-shirt was gone in slightly less than 24 hours since the

and was fueled on other social media platforms.

The T-shirts ($28 women's, $25 unisex) had sold well since going on sale this week, said Mike Golub, chief operating officer of the Portland Timbers, who is serving in the same role with the Thorns, both of which are owned by Merritt Paulson.

"A great majority of fans find it funny and in the spirit it was created," as a "funny, playful twist on our name," Golub said Friday afternoon. He said half of the sales Thursday at the Adidas Timbers store in Jeld-Wen Field were of the T-shirt, though he declined to provide numbers sold.

However, "There is a group of people who don't like it," and team officials decided to respect those sentiments and stop sales of the T-shirts, he said.

Golub said a female Thorns employee thought of the slogan, it was vetted by other Thorns employees and then cleared for T-shirt production. He would not identify the employee.

The campaign to stop the T-shirt started Thursday afternoon with the Facebook page "Discontinue Portland Thorns "Feelin' Thorny?" Merchandise." The page had 135 likes and several comments Friday afternoon.

A woman who said she created the page told The Oregonian in an exchange on Facebook that she did so after receiving an email at 1 p.m. Thursday from the Thorns promoting the T-shirt. The woman, who would not give her name, said she has a daughter.

At one point Thursday, Paulson "engaged with fans" on social media, Golub said, declining to comment further.

Golub said the Thorns, whose 22-game season has its home opener April 21 at Jeld-Wen Field, is "off to a really great start," selling 6,500 season tickets thus far. He said that is the most of any of the eight teams in the league.

"We don't need a T-shirt or any merchandise to do that for us," Golub said of marketing the team.