Attention, Star Wars fans: Athletic wear company Under Armour has released “the Imperial Collection,” a line of clothing themed around the iconic sci-fi franchise. The designs actually look pretty cool—with one major exception: None of the items appear to be available in women’s or girls’ sizes.
An Under Armour spokesperson shared the following statement with Coins2Day: “Through our Alter Ego program, we continue to introduce key collections around iconic movies, music artists and superheroes. As part of our Star Wars collection, we will continue to introduce new styles across men’s, women’s and kids in the coming weeks.”
This isn’t the first time female fans of The Force have gotten short shrift. Last month, Target got in some hot water for selling a t-shirt that replaced an image of Princess Leia for one of Luke Skywalker. The company responded to one Twitter critic by tweeting, “It’s never our intention to leave anyone out!”
@G33KDad It's never our intention to leave anyone out! We'll share your thoughts with the right teams. Thanks for getting in touch with us.
— AskTarget (@AskTarget) October 15, 2015
Not surprisingly, some fans have taken matters into their own hands. Ashley Eckstein told Coins2Day that she founded HER Universe, which sells women’s Star Wars and other sci-fi-themed gear, when she ran into problems finding Star Wars items in her size. What’s more, the ones she did find tended be pink or girly.
“For so long there has been gender marketing and a boys’ aisle and pink aisle,” Eckstein told Coins2Day‘s Michal Lev-Ram in September. “You’re programmed to think Star Wars is a boys’ property. It just became something that society just did.”
This story has been updated to include a statement from Under Armour.
