'Feminist' brand's CEO 'fires staff after they uncover his admission of sexual misconduct'

Former employees are now calling on people to boycott the brand

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US fashion brand Feminist Apparel’s CEO has allegedly fired 90 per cent of his staff after they confronted him about an admission of sexual misconduct.

The brand is known for its liberally-minded slogan T-shirts and accessories, which have been popular at events such as Pride and the Women’s March, with items featuring sayings such as “Misogyny kills” and “Ask for consent”.

However, Feminist Apparel has now become the subject of controversy after staff recently uncovered a 2013 Facebook post written by founder Alan Martofel, in which he admits to harassing women.

It is the same post Martofel announced his plans to launch Feminist Apparel in a bid to repent for his past actions.

Titled “What is rape culture?” he begins his post by outlining some statistics on sexual assault in the US, claiming that 70 to 99 per cent of women worldwide have experienced street harassment.

“We’ve all either face this firsthand, seen it, heard a firsthand account if it, or are guilty of it ourselves,” [sic] the post reads.

“I’m someone who’s guilty of it,” he continues.

“I’ve grinded up on women on buses and at concerts without their consent. I’ve made out with ‘the drunk chick’ at a party because it was easier. I’ve put a woman’s hand on my d*** while she was sleeping.”

Employees were alerted to the post in June and promptly called for a meeting with Martofel, which was attended by nine out of the 10 staff working for the company, they claim in a statement published on Tumblr.

They said that the CEO acknowledged his past sexual misconduct and informed them that he would be stepping down.

However, on 1 July, the members of staff who had attended the meeting each received an email telling them they had been fired.

The employees claim to have been fired “without severance” and accuse Martofel of “profiting off of the movement to end rape culture, the intersectional feminist movement, and social justice movements more broadly”.

“He exploited the experiences of survivors of sexual assault in his marketing and content strategy – including a recent marketing campaign called “Beyond the [#MeToo] Hashtag,” specifically created for sexual assault awareness month,” the letter claims.

The former employees are calling on people to boycott the brand under the hashtag #NotbuyingFA.

Martofel has written a blog post on Feminist Apparel’s site in response to the boycott, informing customers that his former employees did not share his outlook "on on either business or feminism".

“It is then that the operations of the company were halted for a week, while all employees continued to be paid and I assessed all available options for how to move forward at this juncture,” he writes.

“After much deliberation, and in accordance with both state law and our employee handbook, I made the difficult decision to proceed without them."

With regards to his 2013 Facebook post, Martofel clarified that this was a public post which he made in order to acknowledge and confront his own wrongdoing:

"As a privileged man entering this space, I felt it necessary at the time to do a very honest audit of my own past behaviours and to put it out publicly," he writes.

"This was not a private message someone dug up. This was something I went out of my way to share with my community at the time as a means to spark dialogue around the negative impact of toxic masculinity.

"I acknowledged my wrongdoing and committed myself to work within this movement. Spreading the message of consent culture and feminism has been my life's work since that note was written."

The Independent has contacted Feminist Apparel and its former employees for comment.