Children's clothing store pulls crotchless panties after "mortified" mother complains

Erin French, a mother of two from Greeley, Colorado, was shopping at the Greeley Mall recently when she noticed a pair of crotchless panties hanging for sale in a store called Kids N Teen. Disgusted, French snapped a picture of the offending garment with her cell-phone camera, and lodged a complaint. French said, "They're sized to fit a seven-year-old girl. That's just... totally inappropriate."

French wasn't the only one who complained. The mall management also had words with the store's owner, who said the store had only been open for a couple weeks, and that the question of what merchandise should be sold was still being sorted out. The lame argument that twenty-five percent of the store's garments were sold to teens was proffered, as if selling crotchless panties to thirteen-year olds were totally appropriate. The store heard the complaints, and subsequently pulled the panties from their shelves.

No, this isn't Penn State-level evil we're talking about here, but it is a lapse in judgment at a time when Dakota Fanning perfume ads are being banned in the U.K. for being too racy. And earlier this year, a French line of "loungerie" called Jours Apres Lunes, aimed at young girls, also made some people uneasy. As French put it, "There is one purpose for an item of that nature. And that is not something that we want to encourage for our young girls."