Cultural appropriation
Adidas apologizes for controversial sandals
A new shoe from Adidas causes resentment in Mexico – until high to the president. After the criticism, the company and designer Willy Chavarría apologize.
A product of Adidas has rarely caused such discussions as the “Oaxaca Slip-on”. This name is a sandal that the American Willy Chavarría designed. The shoe model is a matter of taste fashion, but in Mexico it was so bad for other reasons that Adidas even apologized.
Some Mexicans see a cultural appropriation in the shoe: he has a striking similarity to the traditional Huarach-sandals from the village of Villa Hidalgo Yalálag. Official representatives and politicians asked the sporting goods manufacturer to withdraw the product. So far Adidas didn’t want to go, even if the company admitted that the shoe was – as the name suggests – inspired by the traditional footwear from the Oaxaca region.
Adidas and designer Chavarría express her regret
“Adidas estimates the cultural wealth of the indigenous communities of Mexico and the importance of their manual inheritance,” the company assured. “We apologize publicly and confirm our commitment to work with Yalálag in a respectful dialogue that recognizes their cultural heritage.”
Previously, Adidas had already said that she wanted to search for the dialogue with the local authorities. Designer Chavarría also expressed his regret about the shoe “not developed in direct and significant cooperation with the community of Oaxaca”. Chavarría himself has a Mexican father who immigrated to the USA as a worker.
Three strips for eternity: How Adidas became the global company
The miracle of Bern
You have to be eleven heroes: the German national soccer team became world champion in Switzerland in 1954, its captain Fritz Walter holds the trophy in her hand when she puts herself a winning photo – in shoes with vice tunnels, invented by Adi Dassler. What goes into German history as a miracle of Bern makes the Adidas company founded.
© Richard Koll / / picture Alliance
More
Open the image subtitle
Back
Further
The president also intervenes
In Mexico, the presentation of the new shoe had caused a lot of criticism. We were talking about “cultural appropriation” and “plagiarism”, politicians threatened to sue Adidas. Even Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum joined the discussion and denounced the Sandals by Adidas as “inappropriate cultural appropriation”. “Large companies take products, ideas and designs of the indigenous community of our country – that is intellectual property,” said Sheinbaum and demanded compensation from the sporting goods manufacturer from Herzogenaurach.
Sources: ,, news agency dpa
EPP
Source: Stern
