T-Shirt Slight Has West Virginia in Arms

WASHINGTON, March 22 — Last year it was social conservatives and women's groups. This year, it is the state of West Virginia.

Abercrombie & Fitch, the youth-oriented apparel retailer that stirred controversy in December with a magazine filled with photographs of nude and partially clad women, has now managed to outrage the governor of West Virginia with a T-shirt.

The shirt, which is selling on the company's Web site for $24.50, is emblazoned with a map of West Virginia and the words, "It's all relative in West Virginia."

Gov. Bob Wise, a Democrat, contends that the shirt is a not-so-subtle play on the stereotype of West Virginia as a haven for incest. In a letter sent Monday to Abercrombie & Fitch's chairman, Michael Jeffries, Mr. Wise demanded that the company stop selling the shirt and destroy its entire stock of it.

"By selling and marketing this offensive item, your company is perpetuating an inaccurate portrayal of the people of this great state," Mr. Wise wrote. "Indeed, such a depiction of West Virginians undermines our collective efforts to communicate a positive representation of the spirit and values of our citizens."

Thomas D. Lennox, the company's director of communications, said it had no plans to stop selling the shirt, calling it a popular product. He issued a statement that said, "We love West Virginia."

"We love California, Florida, Connecticut, Hawaii and Nebraska, too," the statement said. "Abercrombie & Fitch was born and raised in the U.S.A., and we honor all 50 states of the union."

The company drew a storm of protest last year from groups angry about the Christmas issue of A&F Quarterly, which contained provocative photographs and references to group sex.The company withdrew the issue, then killed the magazine altogether.

Abercrombie & Fitch's T-shirt is the second well-publicized insult against West Virginia this year. In January, an anonymous prankster initiated an auction of the entire state on eBay. The item drew 56 bids, reaching $99 million before eBay halted the auction.

Aides said Mr. Wise was considering taking his protest to Abercrombie & Fitch's headquarters, in New Albany, Ohio, if the company did not stop selling the shirt.

"I was hired to respond to just this kind of thing," said Joseph Carey, Mr. Wise's director for strategic communications. "It really hinders our ability to market the state."