Controversial T-shirt Creates Debate, TeeSpring Pulls Design

Eddie Egloff, a Denver area artist and owner of a company called Have an Opinion Art, said that the online T-shirt printer TeeSpring accepted his T-shirt design, but then took it down and ceased sales of it a day later. The shirt incorporates design elements of both the Confederate flag and the colors of the gay pride movement.

"I just wanted to blend a couple of things which had been dogging our society for decades and decades," Egloff told Fox 31 in Denver. "I weathered the 'stars and bars' confederate flag and used the rainbow coalition colors on the battle flag. It was never meant to be racial, rather to let two images merge in an effort to get some understanding of both."

Egloff told Fox 31 that originally the design had the word "compromise" on it, but he felt that the image alone said more. Three people had purchased the shirt before TeeSpring took down the design.

In the message sent to Egloff, TeeSpring claimed that the design promoted racist ideologies.

"By just changing the colors of the Confederate flag I was able to change what that flag stood for for decades and decades," Egloff said to Fox 31. "And by moving the colors from the gay pride parade, I was able to celebrate something that has been decades and decades in the making, and apparently it ruffled a couple feathers."

Egloff also said that he plans to get the T-shirt printed and distributed, but it will not be through TeeSpring.