fashion education

Fashion colonialism and the ongoing struggle for cultural recognition and economic equity

Each year in the United States, the month of November marks the Native American Heritage Month. A day that honors the Indigenous members of the nation. Also, it provides a platform for their culture and traditions, as well as spotlighting social issues their community currently faces. 

Thanksgiving origins: a false history

The month coincides with the holiday of Thanksgiving, a widely celebrated holiday. It commemorates a joint feast held with the newly arrived English Pilgrims and native Wampanoag tribe, who had helped them with their harvest in 1620. The story paints a picture of friendship and peacefulness. The good-hearted Pilgrims paying gratitude to their Native neighbors. And the two parties getting along and allowing the English settlement to flourish. In homage to this, on the last Thursday of every November, millions of Americans sit down with their families and make a traditional Thanksgiving feast. So they practice gratitude and thankfulness.

Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage: representation vs reality

However, the real story paints a much darker picture. For many Native Americans, the holiday is a painful reminder of the lives, cultures, land, traditions lost to settler invasion. And genocide, imposed by settlers and colonizers, occurring for hundreds of years. The day itself is known as the National Day of Mourning for Native Americans, who instead of celebrating use it as a day of remembrance for what their ancestors have suffered through. As well as continuing to acknowledge the suffering that still endures because of colonialism hundreds of years ago. 

Fashion colonialism and its impact on Native American Heritage

Nowadays, the Native American population experiences a type of colonialism not unlike the kind they faced 200 years ago.  Colonialism, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is the “domination of a people or area by a foreign state or nation: the practice of extending and maintaining a nation’s political and economic control over another people or area”. Even though colonialism seems a practice that ended largely in the last millennium, it persists in different forms. Much like the experiences of the Native American population, colonialism hasn’t gone away or fundamentally changed.

Nowadays, a prevalent form of colonialism takes place within the fashion industry. In 2022, Ralph Lauren, an American luxury brand apologized after the wife of Mexico’s then-president Beatriz Gutierrez accused them of culturally appropriating indigenous designs. The item, a cardigan patterned with colorful Indigenous motifs, was being sold online for hundreds of dollars, according to Reuters. Other companies, such as Zara, Urban Outfitters and Asos have been accused of similarly profiting off of Native American cultural designs. Meanwhile, the proceeds collected by the indigenous themselves pale in comparison. An Australia’s Productivity Commission report shows that while $250 million of Indigenous art was sold in 2019-2020, only around one in three items sold were made by an Indigenous artist or business. 

Fashion colonialism not only takes away from the ability to earn their rightful place economically in the fashion world. But also, continues the cycle of removing and commodifying their own culture and heritage. The fashion industry must confront its role in continuing actions of colonialism. In that, they must make ethical collaborations, fair compensation and recognition of Indigenous artists as part of an industry-wide practice. 

Decolonizing Thanksgiving

As the demand for fast fashion grows, consumers who buy inexpensive products from major corporations participate in a form of global colonialism: fashion colonialism. While not as overt as the actions of Pilgrims who took over land and resources from Native Americans centuries ago, its impact is just as profound. Ultimately, the fashion industry must come to terms with the fact that it plays a key part in stripping away identity. And it obstructs Indigenous communities around the world from gaining control of how their culture is perceived and expressed in a post-imperial era. 

✍️ Post written by Rachel Jacob, a scholar from Chicago / USA, studying Business Management at Cattolica University in Milan. Currently interning with suite123.