Pride Month isn’t even halfway through, and Kohl’s has already heavily discounted its Pride merchandise, with some items taking a cut of up to 60% both in stores and online.
Kohl’s launched its 2023 Pride collection, dubbed “Show Love is Love Every Day,” ahead of Pride Month in June.
Rainbow-clad merchandise included T-shirts for adults saying “you do you,” as well as onesies for infants that say “happy pride” and a two-pack of baby bibs that read “proud of my family.”
Just nine days into Pride Month and Kohl’s is selling the items at severe price cuts — a move that comes after rival Target yanked some of its “PRIDE” collection from store shelves following a boycott that wiped $12 million from the company’s value.
On Kohl’s website, many Pride-themed items were half-off — including a rainbow-studded denim jacket, once $65, that was listed on sale for $32.50, plus $20 Pride baseball caps going for $10 and pro-LGBTQ+ homeware halved from $29.99 to $14.99.
That pack of baby bibs were also selling for $11, down from $22.
At a Long Island, N.Y., outpost of the Wisconsin-based retailer, DailyMail.com found items with sale stickers on them and on clearance racks where price cuts reached up to 60%.
One Pride T-shirt donning a sticker on its tag boasted a price cut from $12 to just $4, while a clearance rank encouraging shoppers to “seize the deals” offered an “additional 50% off already reduced clearance merchandise.”
Kohl’s did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Kohl’s, which has more than 1,100 stores across 49 states, is just the latest company to make an effort to stifle the fallout from its Pride collection.
Target triggered a boycott of its nearly 2,000 US outposts when it released its own Pride collection, which featured “tuck-friendly” swimwear for women and pro-LGBTQ+ messaging on children’s clothing that especially outraged its conservative customer base.
Customers have accused Target of grooming children with the items — most recently alt-right rapper Forgiato Blow who’s topping iTunes chart with his new rap song, “Boycott Target.”
The song’s lyrics address an LGBTQ “agenda” that the rapper sings has gone “too far.”
Nearly one month after Target released “PRIDE,” the retailer can’t seem to catch a break.
Conservative voices may be quieting, but more than 200 LGBTQ groups angered by Target’s decision to pull Pride merch from its shelves are now demanding the company “denounce extremists” and restock all the Pride items in stores and online.
The Human Rights Campaign, along with GLAAD, GLSEN and other groups, released a statement asking Target and other embattled businesses like Anheuser-Busch to “reject and speak out against anti-LGBTQ+ extremism going into Pride Month.”
The Minneapolis-based retailer has suffered a similar fate to Bud Light, which was swept into the eye of a culture storm after an ill-fated partnership with trans social media star Dylan Mulvaney sent the beer brand’s sales plummeting.
But even as Target and Bud Light battle negative publicity, they’ve continued to double down on their pro-Pride efforts.
Target, for example, is a platinum sponsor of NYC Pride 2023, which requires a $175,000 donation to achieve the status.
Meanwhile, Bud Light’s parent Anheuser-Busch is a sponsor of Pride celebrations in Chicago, San Francisco, Charlotte and elsewhere.
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