Amazon has issued a statement after removing fakes of Dame Deborah James' T-shirts. Deborah sadly passed away on Tuesday evening aged 40 after a five-year battle with bowel cancer. In the month before her death the blogger announced her partnership with In The Style with the retailer launching the £15 Rebellious Hope T-shirt which sends 100% of profits from the sales directly to The BowelBabe Fund.
One of her final post's on Instagram celebrated raising £1million through the T-shirt, saying the surge in the sales was what was "keeping me going". But just hours after Deborah's death, fake T-shirts were being sold online, with the Rebellious Hope design being ripped off.
The counterfeit T-shirts, which are being sold upwards of £16 are not raising money for charity, with the sellers instead taking home the profit. In The Style's founder Adam Frisby took to Instagram to raise awareness about the counterfeits.
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He wrote: "I'm so sad and frustrated I'm having to say this but unfortunately I've had so many messages about this and some people actually buying them. It's been brought to my attention that there are listings on Amazon and other sites of the Rebellious Hope T-shirts which are not charity and not in partnership with Debs. Please be aware these are not Deborah's designs and the money does not go to her charity. I'm sharing this only because I know how important it was to Deborah that she could raise as much as possible for BowelBabe Fund and In The Style are the only official partner with Cancer Research UK."
An Amazon spokesperson told Metro.co.uk : "Like many, we were saddened to hear of Dame Deborah James’ passing. We’re in the process of removing all products that make any suggestion of a link with Dame Deborah James or the related charities and apologise for any distress caused."
The BowelBabe Fund for Cancer Research UK was founded by Dame Deborah and her family to help fund clinical trials and research into new treatments for cancer patients, all while raising awareness of bowel cancer. The official ‘rebellious hope’ charity T-shirts, which donate all profits to the Bowelbabe Fund, can only be purchased directly through the In The Style website.
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