It's only January and the worst crime against fashion in 2015 has already occurred – a T-shirt brandishing Kurt Cobain's suicide note.
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The distressing, handwritten note has been screenprinted on a number of T-shirts, baseball shirts and singlets, andare available for sale on eBay from an celebrity T-shirt maker based in Thailand for a little over $31.
Twenty-one of the eBay versions, touted as "Kurt Cobain Suicide Letter Nirvana", have already been sold. Etsy, another e-commerce site that specialises in vintage and handmade wares, removed another style of the shirt from its site on Wednesday.
In the handwritten note, which was found when the Nirvana frontman took his own life in his Seattle home in 1994, Cobain mourned his loss of enthusiasm for performing before adoring fans and detailed the admiration of his wife, Courtney Love and young daughter, Frances Bean.
His death followed a long battle with heroin addiction and depression.
Fans took to Twitter to voice their collective disgust at the tasteless tees. "Kurt Cobain did not die to become a clothing brand or his suicide note on your t-shirt," a woman named Catrina posted.
"kurt cobain's suicide letter on a t shirt is one of the most disgusting things I've ever witnessed.. STOP ROMANTICIZING SUICIDE," posted tiana (@drougful).
Music publications and industry blogs were equally dismayed at the morbid piece of unofficial merchandise.
"Last year marked the 20th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death, but we had to wait until 2015 for the most tasteless memorial to the Nirvana frontman's life," Chris Payne opined in Billboard magazine.
"Just wait until Courtney Love finds out," Gigwise wrote.
Fairfax Media's attempts to contact the seller went unanswered.
A more appropriate homage to the musician and songwriter will be broadcast by HBO in May. The documentary Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck will reportedly feature music which was never released by the band.
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