Topman stops sales of 'mysogynistic' T-shirts

Topman was forced to withdraw two T-shirts from sale yesterday following complaints that they were misogynistic and hinted at domestic violence as a humorous subject.

The two garments were removed after an online campaign began against a grey T-shirt displaying the capitalised slogan: "Nice new girlfriend. What breed is she?" Anger soon grew against another displaying a list of tick-box options to complete the statement "I'm so sorry, but..." with options including "You provoked me", "I was drunk", and "I didn't mean it".

The clothing store, run by Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group, has long sold lines of T-shirts emblazoned with laddish, provocative comments aimed at males in their teens and early twenties. It later issued a statement saying: "We have received some negative feedback regarding two of our printed T-shirts. Whilst we would like to stress that these T-shirts were meant to be light-hearted and carried no serious meaning, we have made the decision to remove these from store and online as soon as possible. We would like to apologise to those who may have been offended by the designs."

The decision provoked a mixed reaction, with some people suggesting that mere T-shirts should not be regarded with such severity.

But one online comment said: "So... suggesting women are roughly the equivalent of animals is just a bit of fun? Nice one! Hope you're proud to be hoovering up this particular PR disaster."