Forever 21 Sells Faux Native American Items in Their Columbus Day Sale

Trust me.

When I opened up Forever 21′s online catalog this morning I did not expect to be hit in the face with a big, fatty irony stick. Then again, no one expects the big, fatty irony stick.

Now, I've not so secretly disliked this whole "tribal" and native trend where hipsters slap on replicas of sacred prayer beads, medicine bags and all manner of clothing depicting Native Americans (or American Indians, if you prefer) in the most stereotypical form possible, and Forever 21 has been at the very forefront of promoting this trend.

Chiefs Burnout Top: $11.92

Take this top for example, marked down from $14.90 as part of the Columbus Day sale.

Maybe you didn't catch that ... AS PART OF THE COLUMBUS DAY SALE.

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Now, I'm fully prepared to admit this could very well be me being overly sensitive or overly bitchy or overly whatever, but it just seems like someone over at Forever 21 could have given the items in their Columbus Day sale a little more thought. Maybe they coulda done a once-over, you know, just to make sure no styles influenced by the people directly negatively affected by the reason for the sale were included IN THE SALE.

What do YOU think? Is Forever 21′s Columbus Day sale of native inspired clothes in poor taste or are they justified in wanting to present a wide variety of trends during this weekend?

You know what I think.

Forever 21, WTF?

For more WTF and some actually funny stuff, visit WTForever21.com.

 

Follow Rachel Kane on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@wtforever21

Comments

[Kali03]

10:19 PM on 10/12/2011

I just read an article about Urban Outfitters doing the exact same thing--offensive garbage packaged as "Navajo" stuff. The woman who protested, Sasha Houston, wrote a polite letter to Urban but apparently they intend to keep selling the garbage.

That's so sad. Native Americans have had so much stolen from them. Having their cultural icons appropriated for the purpose of the sale of shoddy garbage just twists the knife.

No bueno, I say, NO BUENO.

[see-ellen2001]

09:25 PM on 10/10/2011

Marketing dept was definitely not thinking. But maybe they don't see the historical negative relationship between the Europeans and First Nations people. Who runs these depts anyway?

[Cascadienne]

04:21 PM on 10/10/2011

I'm from a culture that's also prime to horrible forms of mutilation in the name of fashion. TBH, I'm not really offended...to a point. Clothing, baubles, that sort of thing I see more as a form of ignorant flattery. It's when they start to touch the history and spirituality that I get a little annoyed. Disney movies, anyone?

[NatTurner1]

04:04 PM on 10/10/2011

Columbus Day - Should be called "First Day of Illegal Immigration"
Today, I think I will break into someone's home and tell them I have simply discovered it!

[Kali03]

10:20 PM on 10/12/2011

I'd fan you again if I could, no kidding.

[syaiomid]

02:07 PM on 10/10/2011

being an americancrafts maker....i am sad to say....people dont want american made anymore.....they want to buy hand made things at a chinese price....the materials now cost more than the price people are willing to pay for a finished product..... it is death to talent of pride and artistry that build this country.....the craft supplier are going bankrupt at a fantastic rate.....and the young no longer want to learn to make anything well. The skills are disapearing. Now even homemade clothes are becoming a lost art as with the 80 percent export tax from china on textiles....fabric now costs more than the shoddy finished products we are forced to chose from.....and with the goverment printing so much unbacked money to pay the 400 billion a month interest on the deficite....half to china....our dollar value drops monthly....and so many ....cant even make the illusion of minimum wage anymore....and doctors wont see or diagniose people without insurance medicade or a creditcard. people are starving in america. And unreported petty crime is way underreported. People have lost hope.

[sodisenchanted]

03:43 PM on 10/10/2011

I couldn't agree more. Plastic trade beads. Yuck!
Fanned & faved.

[dru]

01:41 PM on 10/10/2011

Columbus was Italian (born in Genoa) not Spanish.

[IFGA]

02:15 PM on 10/10/2011

Columbus, what a guy! We have a holiday named for him. But here are some facts: When he set sail he did not know where he was going, when he got there he did not know where he was and when he got home he did not know where he had been. Sorta like most of the political leadership of today.

[sodisenchanted]

01:18 PM on 10/10/2011

I'm a Muscogee Creek, card carrying, with my CDIB and I really don't find these offensive. Cheap looking yes, but not offensive. What I do find offensive are the factories that crank out the cheap "peace pipes" , "war drums", etc. I see hanging on people's walls all the time they think are the real thing and the plastic "turquoise" jewelry that gets sold as Indian Made.