She chose a purple and teal backpack, but didn’t like the personalized patch options offered next to it on the website: a fairy, a pink owl, a rainbow, a glittery heart — “They weren’t cool,” the girl tells KPIX’s Consumer Watch.
But when choosing say, a gray and black striped backpack, other options for patches showed up, including a fire-breathing dragon she wanted on her backpack, along with a helmet, a football, an airplane and other “boy” things.
So her mom thought heck, maybe Pottery Barn could just put a dragon on a teal and purple backpack instead of a glittery heart?
“How hard could it be to add a patch?” she said. But after speaking with customer service representatives and a manager at Pottery Barn Kids, she said she was told it “simply wasn’t an option.”
After KPIX contacted Pottery Barn Kids and questioned the separate patches for separate genders policy, the company pledged to contact the girl and her mother directly with an offer for a free backpack, with any patch she wanted. Pottery Barn also said it would change the patch system.
“This was important feedback, and we are making the adjustments now to ensure all patches can go on any colorway for the Fairfax collection,” Potter Barn Kids said.
It’s unclear when that change will happen — as of Wednesday the patch selections are still divided between boys and girls styles on the company’s website — but the girl says she’s hoping to get her backpack this week in time for the first day of school. Gotta have that dragon in place before you hit the playground.
However, the retailer stopped short of saying it would change its gender-specific policies on all products.
Pottery Barn Kids also offered the little girl a free backpack with any patch she wanted.
Pottery Barn Backtracks On Gender-Specific Backpack Designations [KPIX]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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