Cultural appropriation is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as the ‘unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society’.

Fashion designers and brands have a beautiful opportunity to collaborate and co-create with artisans, to treat them as equal partners, give them credit and provide fair work. This is a win-win scenario, but for some reason, it hasn’t clicked with everyone yet. Brands keep plundering cultures that are not their own, then seem to be genuinely surprised when it backfires.

Activist and slow fashion advocate Aja Barber discussed how fast fashion and more specifically costume wear often “denigrates certain people’s outfits to ‘festival wear’” and consequently makes “a cartoon of something that is sacred to somebody else.” Fundamentally, it is the injustice of brands “want to take cultural items from people who are already fighting to be treated like legitimate citizens” with a complete disregard as to “how ethnic minorities are treated as a whole by society.”

The fashion industry has been using traditional cultural expressions of artisanal and indigenous communities as "inspiration" since many years. The designers have profited enormously from incorporating cultural designs without acknowledging their origins or fairly compensating the communities. The traditional woven motifs are mass produced in the factories and printed on cheap clothing materials. The communities who invented these symbols or their processes are not consulted or involved. Their opinion doesnt matter if they are fine with their traditional designs being publicised. These have been fighting for their lands and rights.

 “been able to participate that much in these issues because of a lack of resources–specialists, human resources, money, and time.”  

The Mixe people of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec considered legal action against Isabel Marant in 2015 over a red embroidered blouse which led to a storm of media attention. The traditional designs are now considered ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’. In 2019, the Mexican government accused fashion house Carolina Herrera of cultural appropriation of Indigenous patterns and textiles from Mexico in its collection. Mexico has accused international fashion brands Zara, Anthropologie, and Patowl of cultural appropriation, saying they used patterns from Indigenous Mexican groups in their designs without any benefit to the communities. Mexico says Zara, Anthropologie and Patowl have all used patterns distinctive to Mexico’s Indigenous communities and has requested each brand provide a ‘public explanation on what basis it could privatize collective property’

More recently Nike were forced to withdraw sales of a trainer in May 2019 after the Guna people of Panama claimed intellectual property infringement.

Will cultural appropriation in the fashion industry ever end? How can artisans protect their traditional cultural expressions? Is it possible for designers to work in an ethical way with Indigenous communities? These are the questions that a groundbreaking new digital database aims to challenge by protecting the culturally significant designs of ethnic groups from misappropriation and misuse.

The future belongs to respect, collaboration and co-creation, says Clare Press of the fashion industry’s cultural appropriation problem.

 On October 29, its Minister of Culture, Alejandra Frausto Guerrero, issued a complaint letter directed at French fashion designer Isabel Marant, requesting an explanation over her eponymous label’s unauthorized use of a poncho from the Purépecha community in Santa Clara Del Cobre, an Indigenous group located in the State of Michoacan. The “imitation” poncho, as Frausto called it, was released as part of the brand’s Étoile 2020-21 collection. Mexico’s Cultural Minister made an official complaint to Carolina Herrara over the use of Tenango de Doria designs. “In these embroideries is the history of the community and each element has a personal, family and community meaning.”

Carry Somers, Founder and Global Operations Director of Fashion Revolution, ran a series of posts on Instagram 14-17 June 2019 discussing cultural property rights:

“Fashion has been a globalised industry for several centuries, both in terms of its supply chain and the diffusion of trends, and throughout that time the true cost of economic development has far too frequently been born by indigenous peoples whose natural resources, skills, knowledge and designs have been exploited to bring wealth to a few.”

“What is clear is that we need to protect the intellectual property of indigenous groups and communities, particularly in rural areas, and give designers a framework within which to operate. We need clearer guidelines on benefit sharing, as well as finding ways to encourage co-creation and collaboration.”

The Instagram account GiveCredit raises awareness of designer IP infringements whilst CulturalFashionDay on 22nd June celebrates the textile cultural heritage of the world. 

CIPRI

The difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation is a matter of respectability and honouring craft and craftsmanship. Aja Barber

“So when somebody travels, is ‘inspired’, then goes back to their studio wherever they are living and creates something that looks exactly like what they saw, but the indigenous community is not benefitting at all – from learning, from income generation [or] from exposure – I think that’s where the line is.”

Designers can learn from Brazilian designer Oskar Metsavaht of Osklen, CO10 award winner, who signed a contract with the Asháninka tribe and paid for permission to use some of their designs as inspiration for his collection.

Image from @givecredit_ featuring the Carolina Herrera Resort Collection 2020 alongside artisan Elvira Clemente Gomez at her home in Santa Monica, Tenango de Doria, Hidalgo, Mexico.