Starbucks Predictably Reverses BLM Clothing Ban; Now Making its Own BLM Shirts

Starbucks on Friday said employees can wear Black Lives Matter-related clothing at work, reversing a dress code that sparked online outrage.

The Seattle-based coffee chain told employees they’re free to sport BLM apparel despite telling them last week that it would violate company policy. Starbucks is also making its own Black Lives Matter shirts to distribute to its more than 250,000 store staffers, it said.

“Until these arrive, we’ve heard you want to show your support, so just be you,” Starbucks executives Roz Brewer, Rossann Williams and Zing Shaw said in a letter to employees. “Wear your BLM pin or T-shirt. We are so proud of your passionate support of our common humanity” . . .

The reversal followed calls for a Starbucks boycott on Twitter, where users questioned the sincerity of the company’s pledge to support black staff amid nationwide protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Some pointed out that Starbucks has given employees buttons and T-shirts in support of LGBT people and marriage equality . . .

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