Sustainability as a Decoy for Cultural Appropriation By: Sofie Laursen In this article, I examine how the concept of sustainability is being used by the fashion industry as a decoy for cultural appropriation. I investigate how fashion brands use recycled materials, especially African-American quilts, to justify appropriation in the name of sustainability and how these quilts are a controversial example of a culture, whose visual identity is being exploited. As the fashion industry is beginning to think about more sustainable practices, some brands use sustainability as a buzzword to mask their use of cultural appropriation. I will investigate quilting practices and develop a framework of the visual exploitation of African-American quilt culture.
insensitivity. One needs to understand the origin of cultural appropriation to determine whether a culture is being exploited or not. Susan Scafidi defines cultural appropriation as “taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artefacts from someone else’s culture without permission. This is especially problematic when the source of the community is a minority group that suffers a history of oppression” (Scafidi 2005). In the fashion industry it is striking that brands use cultural appropriation to promote themselves and profit from the exploitation of minority cultures. Susan Scafidi defines cultural appropriation as “taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artefacts from someone else’s culture without permission. This is especially problemIt has been argued that every system has its blind atic when the source of the community is a minority spot. The current fashion industry emits 1.2 trilli- group that suffers a history of oppression” (Scafidi on greenhouse gases annually (Foundation 2017). 2005) Considering this, the world is beginning to think about circular means of production, where the con- Peter Shand’s article, “Scenes from the Colonial Culcept of waste does not exist. “Circular” refers to a tural Appropriation, Intellectual Property Rights, concept from Michael Braungart and William McDo- and Fashion” (2002) investigates the industry’s apnough in Cradle to Cradle (Braungart & McDonough propriation of cultural heritage. Shand argues that 2009 [2002]), which implies that not everything has “the initial phase of modern cultural heritage apto be produced from something new, but instead propriation was underscored by the Enlightenment designers should think about using other resour- and Empire, during which all the world was made ces like recycled materials to make new products. over to fit the intellectual, economic, and cultural Deadstock fabrics, vintage rugs, and quilts are just requirements of first Europe, then the United States” a few examples of this concept. This shows a radi- (Shand 2002:52). According to Shand, these “exotic” cal improvement in the incorporation of recycled cultures were displayed by the white, privileged comaterials into clothing design and production, and lonialist, thereby making them available for approaccording to Ellen MacArthur, “brands are in a good priation. position to market new models as an attractive and fashionable option” (Foundation 2017:33). On the Tangible and Intangible Expressions other hand, one needs to look more critically at the- of Culture se new, sustainable business models and ask where In 2003, the World Intellectual Property Organizatithe materials come from and who made them. The on (WIPO) published a book on intellectual properfashion industry does not ask this question. Instead, ty, genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and it uses sustainability as a buzzword to point out it’s traditional cultural expressions. In this book, WIPO contributions to this discourse. argues that expressions of traditional culture can be both tangible and intangible; an example being Similarly, the industry does not hold its producers African American quilts depicting Bible stories in accountable for cultural appropriation or cultural applique designs. The underlying traditional cultu-
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