Retailers and top fashion brands like Gucci and Prada keep apologizing for products that smack of racial insensitivity.

The big question is: Why does it keep happening?

Experts say many of these fashion companies live in a sort of bubble and lack the diversity in their staff that could vet their fashions. They also blame the increasing pressures facing the industry to push products from the design board to the stores and online in weeks rather than months without taking time to thoroughly review products.

鈥淭here is such pressure on speed that there is no time for consideration,鈥� said Allen Adamson, co-founder of Metaforce, a marketing firm. 鈥淲hen you are moving this fast, there is no time for perspective.鈥�

Just as quickly as mistakes are made, so too are they amplified over social media as shoppers take to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to voice complaints.

In the latest example, Katy Perry鈥檚 fashion line this week pulled two types of shoes 鈥� which featured protruding eyes, nose and red lips 鈥� that critics likened to blackface. The singer and company said they were saddened that it was being compared to blackface and had envisioned the designs to be a nod to 鈥渕odern art and surrealism.鈥�

Last week, Gucci removed a sweater off the market after complaints that the oversized collar designed to cover the face resembled blackface makeup. In a statement posted on Twitter, Gucci offered a mea culpa and said that it planned to turn the incident 鈥渋nto a powerful learning moment for the Gucci team and beyond.鈥�

READ MORE:

The latest blunders followed apologies from Italian designer Prada, which said in December it was no longer selling a line of accessories that featured a character with brown skin and exaggerated red lips. And last year, Swedish retailer H&M pulled an ad that featured a black child donning a sweat shirt with the words 鈥淐oolest monkey in the jungle.鈥�

Experts say that companies are not keeping up with the pace and complexity of global expansion.

鈥淭he fact is, all retailers live in a global village today, whether they realize it or not,鈥� said Sonia Lapinsky, managing director in the retail practice at AlixPartners, a global consulting firm. 鈥淎nd even if massive, global movements like the diversity movement and other 鈥榳oke鈥� movements don鈥檛 yet seem to be of the highest importance to all retailers, in every segment and in every corner of the planet, those that think that way are most likely doing so at their long-term peril.鈥�

Adheer Bahulkar, a partner at consultancy A.T. Kearney, agreed, saying that brands need to pay attention to issues that might not be noticed within their own culture but that are 鈥渉ighly sensitive in another culture.鈥�

Acknowledging their mistakes, some companies are now trying to rectify the problem. Gucci, for instance, announced Friday it will hire a global director for diversity and inclusion, a newly created role. It also is promising to launch a scholarship program to cultivate diverse design talent.

The announcement came after Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri met in New York City鈥檚 Harlem neighbourhood with Dapper Dan, a well-known African-American designer, and other community members to hear their perspectives.

Prada said Wednesday it鈥檚 creating a diversity council to 鈥渆levate voices of colour within the company and fashion industry at large.鈥� It said two Americans, artist Theaster Gates and film director Ava DuVernay, will chair the council. The group will work to develop 鈥渄iverse talent鈥� and develop more opportunities for students of colour, the luxury fashion house said.

鈥淧rada is committed to cultivating, recruiting and retaining diverse talent to contribute to all departments of the company,鈥� said Miuccia Prada, CEO and lead creative director at Prada in a statement.

READ MORE:

In the aftermath of its sweat shirt controversy, H&M put together a diversity and inclusion team headed by insider and lawyer Annie Wu with people from different departments. Last November, the company hired former Viacom executive Ezinne Kwubiri as head of inclusion and diversity for North America.

鈥淲e must admit that there is some truth in the fact that we have maybe been too centralized and that we need to challenge ourselves in an open and constructive way to get everyone, everywhere to be more culturally sensitive, racially aware, and more critical of how the outside world might see what we do,鈥� Wu said in a corporate blog post last spring.

Still, putting some controls on the design team requires a balancing act, particularly with design-led fashion firms. It has to be done without hurting the creativity of the team, says Lapinksy.

Lapinsky predicts that offensive designs will continue to pass through the layers of designers and merchandisers until companies really see a big hit at the bottom line.

Wendy Liebmann, founder and CEO of WSL Strategic Retail, a retail consultancy firm, said diversity training and a new way of thinking has to be 鈥渆mbedded in the culture.鈥�

鈥淚t can鈥檛 be at arms-length,鈥� she said.

__________________

AP Business Writer Alexandra Olsen in New York contributed to this report.

Anne D鈥橧nnocenzio, The Associated Press

Like us on and follow us on .