Justin Bieber says H&M sold merch line without his approval

The global apparel retailer H&M on Tuesday afternoon removed from its website two items that pop star Justin Bieber said bore his likeness without authorization.

In the first of two posts Monday on Instagram Stories, where content cycles out after 24 hours but which were screengrabbed by multiple outlets, Bieber wrote in all capital letters to his 270 million followers, "I didn[']t approve any of the merch collection that they put up at H&M," adding in regular type, "all without my permission and approval."

Using the abbreviation for "shaking my head," the 28-year-old "Peaches" singer then wrote in all caps, "SMH I wouldn[']t buy it if I were you."

In a second Instagram Stories post, Bieber wrote in all capital letters, "The H&M merch they made of me is trash and I didn[']t approve it[.] Don't buy it."

Sweden-based H&M was offering at least two products with Bieber's image. Web archives show a short sweatshirt dress of cotton-polyester ($34.99) with a gray-scale monotone of Bieber's face, with his last name spelled out in stylized capital letters beneath it. A canvas tote with long handles ($14.99) featured a collage of three different blue-tinted images of Bieber.

In a statement to Newsday, a representative of the retail giant said, "As with all other licensed products and partnerships, H&M followed proper approval procedures." The company has not commented on why it removed those products.

Bieber has not commented publicly aside from his Instagram Stories posts, and his representatives did not respond to media inquiries.

The Canada-born singer-songwriter has his own online company, Drew House, titled after his middle name, that sells mostly apparel but also bags, skateboard decks and at least one rug and one plush doll of two animal characters. He also has an extensive separate line of clothing and other merchandise at his official music website.

Bieber, a two-time Grammy Award winner and 22-time nominee, is married to Hailey Baldwin Bieber, the younger of two daughters of Massapequa-raised actor Stephen Baldwin.