Beauty retailer Ulta has issued an apology after an email promoting the company’s new collaboration with Kate Spade appeared to reference the designer’s death.

According to TMZ, people on Ulta’s mailing list received an email last Sunday with the subject, “Come hang with Kate Spade.” However, it didn’t take long for the email to spark backlash online with many folks pointing out the distasteful choice of words given Kate Spade’s death by suicide.

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The designer’s life came to a tragic end in 2018 when it was revealed she took her own life. As per CNN, Kate was found hanging in her Manhattan apartment along with a suicide letter after a long battle with mental health.

“Although Kate has not been affiliated with the brand for more than a decade, she and her husband and creative partner, Andy, were the founders of our beloved brand,” Kate Spade New York said at the time via statement. “Kate will be dearly missed. Our thoughts are with Andy and the entire Spade family at this time.”

Kate founded the brand with her husband Andy Spade in 1993. The couple eventually sold 56% of the company to Neiman Marcus in 1999 for $33.6 million. Kate then sold the rest of her shares before the brand was overtaken by Liz Clairborne, though it retained the designer’s namesake.

Coach Inc. (which was renamed Tapestry Inc.) later bought the Kate Spade brand for $2.4 billion in 2017.

Understandably, many Ulta customers were offended by the retailer’s decision to sue the phrase “come hang” to describe their collaboration with Kate Spade given the context of how the brand’s founder died. Some shoppers went so far as to demand a boycott of Ulta over the controversial email blast.

Ulta has since released a statement apologizing for the offensive wording. "Ulta Beauty recently sent an email featuring Kate Spade New York fragrance with an insensitive subject line and for this, we sincerely apologize,” a representative shared.

“Mental health is a very serious, important issue in this country, and not something we would ever take lightly,” they continued. “We apologize to the Spade family, our Kate Spade New York brand partners and to our guests. Thank you for understanding as we strive to do better."

As per PEOPLE, Ulta also sent out a mass email to those on its subscription list apologizing for the error. The Spade family has not responded to requests for comments.

Ulta is worth a reported $20 billion, but it remains to be seen how the company's latest blunder affects their net worth and revenue stream.

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Sources: TMZ, CNN, PEOPLE, Macro Trends,