News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. Feb. 11, 2021: French fashion house and luxury goods company, Louis Vuitton, is under fire for selling a pullover sweater it claims was inspired by Jamaica’s national flag. Except, the expensive item featured the wrong colors.
The fashion house kicked off Black History Month with the fashion gaffe which has upset many. Instead of the green, yellow, and black of the Jamaican flag, the almost $1,700 unisex street style u-neck long sleeves sweater features three large stripes of green, yellow, and red.
The sweater’s incorrect design was reportedly first called out by the fashion critic Twitter account @pam_boy.
“I cannot stress enough how important it is to implement diversity as a value and not a symbol within fashion companies,” the user tweeted along with a photo of the sweater next to the Jamaican flag for comparison.
The account pointed out that the sweater looked closer to the design of the Rastafarian flag, a religious movement with roots in Jamaica, rather than the country’s official flag.
“So no one at Louis Vuitton googled the Jamaican flag?” Twitter user Black Women Matter wrote.
Even Bob Marley’s daughter, Cedella Marley, weighed in, noting the colours are of the Ethiopian flag not Jamaica’s.
Many are also outraged that the company is using Jamaica’s culture for profit.
Louis Vuitton has not commented on the uproar, but the sweater has been pulled from its online store. It is, however, still being sold on buyma.us.
Gucci last year has to pull a wool sweater from its stores last year after complaints that its oversized collar resembled blackface makeup, while Burberry apologized for putting a hoodie with strings tied in the shape of a noose on its London Fashion Week runway.
