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3 Times Fashion Industry Was Racist

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    The insensitivity in the fashion industry has always been quite prevalent, and many international brands have been called out several times for promoting racial discrimination.

     

    Even today, when the world is progressing rapidly, and any kind of racism is punishable by sentence, companies still find a way to upset the masses and this occurrence has become quite common in the last decade. So let’s look at a few examples by get assignment help online where fashion brands stepped over the line and had to later apologise for their “unintentional racism”.

     

    Burberry and Noose Hoodie

    So the clothing brand, Burberry, considered designing a hoodie with an accessory of a noose as a fashion statement and not surprisingly, they received criticism for promoting the history of slavery.

     

    Not only this, the fact that the rope was hanging from the neck of the model also made it quite inappropriate, considering the period where women were treated as second-class citizens.

     

    The brand also managed to upset activists that aim to spread social awareness because the hoodie also hinted towards the methods of suicide. Model Liz Kennedy criticised the design, and after the outrage, Burberry CEO Marco Gobbetii issued an apology saying that they are “deeply sorry for the distress.”

     

    Gucci and Sambo Sweater

    Now we all know how for decades, the blackface has been copied in cartoons by exaggerating the lip size and other facial features. Well, we thought we had bid farewell to the era, but Gucci came up with a collection of black turtleneck and named it “balaclava jumper” which had a huge outline of red lips around the space for the mouth.

     

    The brand immediately came forward to apologise and calm the backlash on social media, saying, “We deeply apologise for the offence caused by the wool balaclava jumper. We can confirm that the item has been immediately removed from our online store and all physical stores.”

     

    H&M and Black Child

    The move was extremely shocking because it came from an established brand like H&M and it was not even related to their collection. They posted a picture of a black child wearing a sweatshirt, with the words “coolest monkey in the jungle” imprinted on the item.

     

    This was quite insensitive on their part because of the history of the black race being oppressed by bearing the labels of savages and monkeys. However, this did not stop there because soon after the picture was posted, the H&M featured a white boy on their page with the same jungle-themed sweatshirt saying “survival expert”.

     

    The explicit form of racism made people, including celebrities like The Weekend, boycott the brand instantly, and the management had to apologise for their blatant discrimination.

     

    The fact that we are living in the twenty-first century makes these events even more unacceptable because the era where institutional racism was part of the society should long be left in the past. However, the fashion industry, in particular, needs to learn where to draw the line and listen when the oppressed groups consider an item derogatory due to the history of injustice and racism.