Swastika arm band at NYC tailor sparks fury — but shop says employee didn’t know what it meant

A hateful Nazi swastika that was hanging in plain view at a popular Upper East Side tailor shop has sparked fury among customers and neighbors.

But the store’s management says the whole thing was a stich-up.

Ignacio’s Tailor shop on East 60th Street issued a groveling apology, and told The Post an unwitting employee who didn’t understand what the symbol meant accepted the white shirt with a swastika armband for dry cleaning.

When managers were alerted to the garment they called the cops, and then tossed it.

“For me, I feel like it’s a hate situation. It’s the first time we had this situation… they want to hurt the business,” Jorge Hernandez, a manager at Ignacio’s, said.

City Councilwoman Julie Menin posted a picture of the evil symbol Monday morning that was taken by a horrified customer at Ignacio’s Tailor shop on East 60th Street.

A friend of the customer forwarded the snap to the UES lawmaker.

“A constituent in my district alerted me to the fact that a tailor on the UES has this hanging in his queue to be tailored. I have reached out to this business and they will not be tailoring this item and@NYPDnews is currently investigating,” Menin said.

Menin later told The Post she only posted the picture after workers at Ignacio’s confirmed with her office that it indeed had a shirt with the Nazi symbol, which was held with two pins onto a white dress shirt.   

“They confirmed they would not dry clean the item. It’s a hate symbol. The police were notified and were at the store,” she said.

The snap quickly went viral on social media, sparking horror and condemnation.

A second photo later circulated of the customer’s ticket with a name and phone number with a Russia area code — but no date for pick-up.

Jewish activist Lizzy Savetsky blasted the store for accepting the order to dry clean a swastika.

Her husband’s grandmother survived Auschwitz.

“Her parents were both murdered,” Savetsky, who reposted the photo of the Nazi clothing on Instagram.

“The tailor allegedly knew what the symbol was and took the job anyway,” Savetsky claimed in the post.

Savetsky later said in an interview that she wasn’t “letting the store off the hook.”

“It’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. This is a black and white issue. Good vs. evil,” she said.

“This is the most evil symbol of all time — it equates to the genocide of my people!,” Savetsky, 38, a mother of three kids who resides near the tailor shop, said.

But some customers think the shop may have been duped by a sick prank.

In business for 20 years, the tailor boasts a client list posted up at the entrance that includes luxury designers Armani, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, Versace, Porsche, Gucci, Tom Ford, and among others.

Hernandez said a customer took a photo of the swastika before it was brought to his attention, which then exploded on social media.

The manager said he was out for lunch when a couple believed to be one of the customers — a black man with braids and a white woman in their 30s — came to drop off the swastika outfit.

He later tried calling the number on the ticket but couldn’t reach the person, so he called the NYPD Saturday afternoon.

“I say, ‘what is this?’ I have to do [my job]. It’s very disgusting, very bad. It’s a very bad thing that happened.”

The shop is already being bombarded with one-star reviews, citing the swastika and Hernandez said he’s also getting angry phone calls.

But, one longtime customer — a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors who visited the store — said the tailor was a victim and not complicit what what appeared to be a hateful stunt.

“It’s upsetting,” the woman said of the swastika incident. “It’s so horrible.”

“I think somebody planted it on purpose… I think it’s a message. We’re seeing it everywhere. It is so hurtful.”

She referenced Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” episode where Larry opts to dry-clean a Ku Klux Klansman’s robe after he accidentally spills coffee on it.

The dry cleaner accepts the robe and then throws it away before Larry collects it.

“Think that that had anything to do with it?” she said only half in jest. “Think about it.”