Mexico asks clothing brands to stop appropriating indigenous designs

The Mexican government has requested explanations from the Spanish clothing firm Zara, and from the American companies Anthropologie and Patowl, for the use of cultural elements of indigenous peoples in their collections, according to information published by the cultural bulletin newspaper of the public entity France Télévisions.

On May 28, 2021, the Mexican Minister of Culture, Alejandra Fausto, has asked that they stop attacking "against the identity and economy of the people" and advocates for "fair trade that treats creative entrepreneurs and designers natives on an equal footing.

The minister has sent letters to the three companies asking them to explain the reasons why "they have privatized a collective property that belongs to various indigenous peoples of the southern state of Oaxaca", and asking how they plan to "repay the creative communities.

The letters signed by the minister, which are dated May 13, ensure that a principle of ethical consideration «obliges us to draw attention to and defend locally or globally the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, who historically have been invisible."

According to information from French television, in the case of Zara, which belongs to the Inditex company, the Ministry's note talks about a dress whose belt reproduces elements "of the Mixtec culture", one of the pre-Columbian civilizations of the southwest Mexican, from the municipality of Oaxaca in San Juan.

As for the firm Anthropologie, the mentioned garment is a short with an embroidery that contains details of the culture and identity of the Mixe people (indigenous group from the eastern state of Oaxaca) of Santa María Tlahuitoltepec.< blockquote class="twitter-tweet">

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And as for Patowl, it is about the T-shirts from the Tops collection, which are "a faithful copy" of the traditional dresses of the Zapotec people of the community of San Antonino Castillo Velasco, the minister's letter specifies.

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Previously, in November 2020, the Mexican minister criticized the French designer Isabel Marante for commercially exploiting various traditional motifs of indigenous peoples in her collection.

In 2019, it was the turn of the Venezuelan designer Carolina Herrera, whom the minister reproached for reproducing typical embroideries from the Tenango community.

In Mexico there are 56 ethnic groups with an important handicraft wealth, which among other things includes fabrics and embroidery.

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