Mexico City – Mexico said on Wednesday it had sent a protest letter to Chinese low-cost fashion giant Shein for marketing a pattern made by Mayan artisans.
The Mexican government has “sent a letter of protest to the fashion company Shein, asking it to explain publicly on what principles it commercializes and privatizes collective property”, indicated the Mexican Ministry of Culture.
For this blouse, sold for 7 dollars on its website, Shein “made use of elements whose origin is perfectly documented”, adds the ministry, which underlines that “this type of action harms the craftsmanship” and ” the economy of the original creators, in this case located in Mayan communities”.
For its part, the artisanal brand YucaChulas has published photos on its social networks showing that the blouse sold by Shein largely takes up the characteristics of a piece it made in 2017. YucaChulas points out that these blouses, made by Mayan communities , are “an integral part of the identity of this Mayan people” and represent an “economic alternative for their daily subsistence”.
In recent years, the Mexican government has repeatedly protested to different brands, such as the Spanish giant Zara, or fashion houses, such as Carolina Herrera or Isabel Marant, for having used cultural elements of indigenous peoples in their collections, denouncing “undue cultural appropriation”.
In November 2021, the government invited foreign fashion houses to spend a weekend engaging with indigenous textile artisans. (AFP)