An online clothing company has apologised for selling “Team Hutch” and “Team Kinahan” clothing items and removed them from its website.
Craic Clothing admitted that selling the hoodies and T-shirts, which made light of the gangland feud that has claimed 12 lives to date, was a "stupid idea".
The clothing also included pictures of a knuckle-duster and an Uzi machine gun with the words “northside” and “southside” printed underneath them, in reference to the bases of the Hutch and Kinahan gangs in Dublin.
The feud between the factions linked to Gerry "The Monk" Hutch and Christy Kinahan has escalated since a deadly gun attack at a weigh-in for a boxing bout in Dublin's Regency Hotel in early 2016.
Craic Clothing is a division of the German online retailer Spreadshirt, according to the Guardian, which first published the story.
Before withdrawing the range, the company had issued the following advice to those who bought the items: “Craic Clothing takes no responsibility if you’re stupid enough to wear this around town and get ‘injured’.”
Feud origins
The feud between the Hutch and Kinahan gangs began in September 2015 when Gerry Hutch's nephew, Gary Hutch, was shot dead on Spain's Costa del Sol.
Veronica Guerin's brother, Jimmy Guerin, criticised the clothing range, telling the Guardian that it "showed how Irish society has become immune to the horrors of gangland".
“There are parts of Irish society that have become immune to the slaughter and misery these gangs are wreaking across Dublin and further afield,” he said.
“We are now in a situation like places in the US where gangs’ exploits are celebrated rather than condemned.”
