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U.K. designer pulls sweater with Inuit design after public outcry

KTZ fashion under fire for using Inuit design without family's consent

A British fashion label has pulled a sweater from its collection after a Canadian woman said it featured a sacred Inuit design created by her family.

“Over the last 20 years KTZ has always been inspired by and paid homage to indigenous cultures and tribes around the world,” reads a letter sent to Nunavut resident Salome Awa from Kokon To Zai (KTZ) on Friday, the CBC reports.

But KTZ, which did not respond to a request for comment, did not apologize for actually using the image, which Awa, a CBC producer, said was created by her great-grandfather.

It said in an email to Awa, “We sincerely apologize to you and anyone who felt offended by our work as it certainly wasn’t our intention.”

The label also said it “has always been inspired by and paid homage to indigenous cultures and tribes around the world.”

Awa could not be reached for comment. Earlier this week, she told the CBC program As It Happens her great-grandfather, who was a shaman, came up with the image in the 1920s. The hands and the man in the original design are meant as a symbol of protection.

“I went through all the garments and there it was: my great-grandfather’s garment, designed exactly the same way as he envisioned,” Awa told the Toronto Star. “I was shocked, actually, because it’s sacred.”

While the sweater featuring Awa’s great-grandfather’s design has been removed, the handprint part of the design is featured prominently on a number of pieces by the designer. Those remain for sale.

Awa has said she hopes the fashion house will donate any money made from the sweaters — which sold for over $800 in Canada — to the Inuit people.

KTZ has received a number of online complaints about the use of Awa’s ancestor’s image.

“I think it’s pretty disgusting that you blatantly stole a family’s design and are trying to profit off of it,” one review on the designer’s Facebook page says.

“If you’re going to sell something for $800, then at least let it be your own original design. Blatantly stealing someone’s sacred design is pathetic and lazy. There is nothing ‘edgy’ or ‘trendy’ about this. You disgust me,” another person wrote.

This is not the first time KTZ or its designer, Marjan Pejoski, have been criticized for the recent fall and winter collection. In February, after the clothes were presented at New York Fashion Week, writer and activist Lauren Chief Elk noted one dress appeared to be “straight up appropriation (and) theft of indigenous people who are currently using their own culture in design.”

The dress in the KTZ show was very similar to one by American indigenous fashion designer Bethany Yellowtail, who draws inspiration from her own Crow heritage.

The use of aboriginal and indigenous artwork and clothing by others has become more of an issue in recent years. This summer, several music festivals banned the wearing of native headdresses because it is a cultural appropriation of First Nations symbols.

But other cases of cultural appropriation have been criticized as going too far, such as when the University of Ottawa cancelled a popular yoga class for students. The school argued the class was not sensitive to the cultural roots of the exercise, which was developed in India. That decision made international headlines and was mocked by many online.