By Sarah Shearman
LONDON, Feb 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – One of the fashion’s most enduring trends is to draw inspiration from other cultures’ traditional arts and crafts.
But the extent to which fashion houses profit from these designs without acknowledging their origins has sparked accusations of cultural appropriation in recent years.
Amid this growing backlash, luxury outdoor brand Canada Goose is paying homage to the Inuit, who originally created the fur-lined cold-weather parka coat that the company has become famous for selling.
This week it launched a new business venture, Project Atigi, which aims to acknowledge and support Inuit communities in Northern Canada.
Canada Goose commissioned 14 Inuit seamstresses to each make a coat of their own design, using fabrics selected by the company. The seamstresses own the copyright for their coats, rather than Canada Goose.
“As we’re moving forward into modern times, indigenous cultures are being acknowledged for their ingenuity and their craft,” Mishael Gordon, one of the Project Atigi seamstresses, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“I felt like this was an example of appreciation of indigenous culture, not appropriation,” she said.
Canada Goose set up Project Atigi as a social enterprise, which is a business that seeks to do good as well as make profit, so it would benefit the Inuit directly.
The seamstresses were paid for their work and all the profits will go to a charity that works to improve the health and wellbeing of Inuit in Canada.
