Umbro is facing criticism for giving a child's trainer the name of a deadly gas used by Nazis to murder millions in Second World War death camps.
A Jewish human rights group says use of the name Zyklon is 'outrageous'.
Dr Shimon Samuels, of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, says the company's "misuse of the Holocaust is an insult to its victims and survivors."
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In a letter to the British manufacturer, he says use of the name is "an encouragement to neo-Nazis and skinheads who terrorise the football terraces and a dishonour to sport itself."
Mr Nick Crook, a spokesman for the firm in London, says the company wished to "express our sincere regret that the Zyklon name may have upset someone."
He says the name did not actually appear on the trainers but had been used for advertisement purposes since 1999.
"The naming of the shoe is purely coincidental and was not intended to communicate any connotations," he said.
The shoe has been sold in stores and on internet sites featuring sporting goods.
Mr Crook says Umbro has already changed the shoe's name in Britain and is looking to do the same internationally as soon as possible.
The Wiesenthal Centre, named after Nazi hunter Mr Simon Wiesenthal, is also demanding "an "investigation and condemnation of those behind Umbro's marketing strategy" in the letter addressed to Umbro Chief Executive Mr Peter McGuigan. PA