Authorities yearn to “protect the rights of native peoples who have historically been invisible,” since it is not the first case of its kind.
The Ministry of Culture of Mexico questioned this Sunday the American company Levi’s for using Mexican indigenous designs in their garments without having the authorization or having paid for the copyright to the community from which they originate.
Secretary Alejandra Frausto sent a letter to the Levi’s México company and another to the Dracco Textil collective, which collaborated with the company, so that “it is publicly explained on what grounds a collective property is commercialized and privatized”.
“It’s about a principle of ethical consideration which, locally and globally, obliges us to make a call for attention and put on the table of public discussion a subject that cannot be postponed: protect the rights of indigenous peoples who have historically been made invisible”Said Frausto.
The Ministry of Culture denounced in a statement that the collection “Levi’s Premium, Original Trucker Jacket” contains embroidered elements in its pants and jackets that belong to the Mazatec culture of the community. San Felipe, Jalapa de Díaz, from Oaxaca, southern state of Mexico.
According to the agency, the company did not use the “Adequate mechanism to obtain permission from said community.”
Frausto cited in his letters the Federal Copyright Law of the Mexican State, which states that the works “They cannot be used without the written authorization of the town or community that owns them.”
Legislation also requires a “Fair and equitable remuneration for the benefit of rights holders.”
“Principles that your brand is not complying with, while lThe designs have been cut to be applied to industrialized garments; they do not indicate the name of the communities and there is no compensation whatsoever towards the owners of said designs, ”said Secretary Frausto in her letter.
The questioning is a sample of the growing struggle of the Government of Mexico against, as it considers, the plagiarism made by international brands of indigenous designs.
Last May, the Ministry of Culture accused the Spanish Zara and the American Anthropologie and Patowl of cultural appropriation for throwing clothes with elements of Oaxacan peoples.
In this context, the agency celebrates the Original festival from Thursday to Sunday, an annual space to claim original designs.
“The weaving hands of the millenary culture of Mexico make their way to show the world their way of understanding it through their designs and creations. Never again a ‘tribute’ without them ”, Frausto stated. (I)
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