Chatoyer Jackson was partying at Celebrities, a club on Davie Street in downtown Vancouver, when another patron started giving him funny looks.

"He was looking at my shirt and at me and gesturing as if to say, ‘I don’t like that,’" said Jackson, a Vancouver actor. "I didn’t understand so he yelled, ‘I don’t like that.’"

Confused, Jackson shrugged it off and went on his way. But just a few moments later, a bouncer flew down the stairs with a flashlight pointed at Jackson’s shirt. Taking the 23 year old by the arm, the bouncer led him into a private room.

He told Jackson to take off the shirt. Still confused Jackson, 23, prodded for an explanation.

"I kept asking, ‘Why?’ but the bouncer wouldn’t give me an answer," he said.

Jackson was told that if he wanted to continue partying at Celebrities, he would have to change his shirt.

"So I turned my $100 shirt inside out, pretty much ruining my entire night!" he said.

Baffled, Jackson told his friends about the incident. They explained to him that Vancouver nightclubs don’t allow designer brand labels, Affliction and Ed Hardy.

"I had never heard of this before and a lot of my friends didn’t know the reason why the labels are banned so I spoke to a cop who said that Asian gang members stereotypically wear Affliction," he said. "Supposedly there was a shooting where the gangsters were all wearing Affliction or Ed Hardy."

As if to test the theory, a few weeks ago, Jackson went to Republic, a bar on downtown Granville Street, wearing a shirt that looked similar to Affliction’s signature imagery of demons and warriors. Again he was refused passage to party.

"While I was there, three other guys weren’t allowed in either because they were wearing Affliction," he said.

Bouncers at Republic early Saturday morning would not comment on the ban, insisting all media inquiries go through "head office." Management did not return repeated calls.

Affliction is banned in several bars along Vancouver’s infamous Granville Mall, where debauchery and hooliganism are common in the early hours around closing time.

George Mora, who has been a bouncer at the Plaza nightclub for two years, says people who wear Affliction tend to cause trouble.

"Over time, it’s become clear that people who wear Affliction cause problems," he said. "There have been many incidents in the pass with people who wear Affliction so why take the chance?"

A bouncer at after-hours club George-o-Mish, just off Granville Mall, said he does not allow Affliction or Ed Hardy through his door because "gangs are associated with those clothing lines." He asked not to be named because he was "not authorized by management."

But Affliction’s reputation as a gang banger’s label is peculiar to the Lower Mainland. Nowhere else are gangs affiliated with the popular clothing brand, said Pamela Rogers, spokesperson for Affliction.

"Our brand has nothing to do with gangs," said Rogers from her office in Los Angeles, California." We don’t even know how that got started in B.C. But here it’s very mainstream. American Idol Chris Daughtry wore it week after week. It’s an upscale men’s boutique brand!"

Nevertheless, bars continue to ban Affliction because it tends to be wrapped around trouble. While there is no directive coming from police, every private business has the right to enforce a dress code, said John Teti, founder of Barwatch, a multi-club organization that provides added security for bars.

"Barwatch has no policy regarding clothes," he said. "But if you dress like a gangster, you’re probably going to get taken to be a gangster. It’s real simple."

Vancouver Police spokesman Const. Tim Fanning said police have nothing to do with banned clothing, but will help with enforcement if a known gang member has slipped past club security.

Whether it’s Affliction T-shirts or downmarket sweat pants, Mora of the Plaza doesn’t believe preventing someone from clubbing based on their clothes is a form of discrimination.

"If something doesn’t fit in with the vision the club has, you might have to stereotype," he said. "It’s only as discriminatory as if you didn’t allow someone in with track pants or runners."

But aPost source with past gang connections said banning Affliction from bars is just another way to keep Indo-Canadians out of the clubs.

"If you’re a male Indo-Canadian it’s almost impossible to get into the bars downtown," he said. "If you’re an Indo-Canadian male and you’re wearing Ed Hardy, you’re definitely not getting in."

Profiling potential trouble based on designer labels may be an inexact social science, but that same Saturday morning, two young men, both caucasian, were fighting at the corner of Granville and Nelson streets. Yelling and swearing, one stumbled off into the night with a bloody nose . . . and a red-stained Affliction shirt.