the japanese brand Like boys Co., Ltd launched the collection Junya Watanabe Man Fall/Winter 2022, before finalizing the “ethical agreement” with the indigenous communities creators from Saltillo, Coahuila, and Contla, Tlaxcala, with whom they had started a negotiating table on November 24, 2021.
Given this, the federal Ministry of Culture described this action of the Japanese brand as “bad practice” since it put its commercial calendar before the interest of closing an ethical agreement with the indigenous communities with whom he was already in talks.
“The speed with which the brand launched the collection
Junya Watanabe Man Fall/Winter 2022
it affected the negotiation process through which the native artists hoped to agree on a fair agreement proposal. In addition, the name of the federal Ministry of Culture was used incorrectly, ”said the federal agency.
He recalled that the negotiation process began on November 24, 2021, when through the Mexican embassy in Japan, the Ministry of Culture received the brand’s statement, where it expressed its interest in knowing the procedure to use the traditional patterns of the serape in some of its designs.
In response, it was indicated that the collective rights of the Saltillo sarape belong to
indigenous communities
from Saltillo in Coahuila and from Contla in Tlaxcala. It was specified that the role of the federal Ministry of Culture and of the state cultural bodies would be exclusively to act as facilitators of the process, always seeking the benefit of the creative communities.
And it was also explained that it is the communities who decide what to do with the cultural heritage that belongs to them, as the federal Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto Guerrero, has repeatedly expressed.
In various meetings, the creators of Coahuila and Tlaxcala presented, among other alternatives, the request to include a label in the garments of the aforementioned collection that would recognize the original right of the communities of original artists, in addition to a specific payment for those rights and support for materials and work equipment.
The brand was also asked to jointly organize an international seminar on collective rights and to explore the possibility of a future collection in collaboration with the creative communities and the brand. Regarding this last request, Like boys proposed to explore it in a second stage.
Both parties agreed to continue the negotiations to reach an agreement that would be announced in a joint statement and reiterated that the original creative communities expressed at all times their intention to reach a fair agreement for all, always under the principles of respect, reciprocity and recognition. full and collaborative.
Comme des Garçons launches collection without agreement
–
On January 17, 2022, the brand launched the advertising campaign for the collection, prioritizing its commercial calendar over the interest in closing a definitive agreement with the indigenous communities original creators and at no time did they mention the creators who had been working on the collaboration project with their first and last name, thus incurring in a bad practice.
To this is added the erroneous declaration of the brand when stating that it worked with the federal Ministry of Culture, despite the fact that this agency only served as a facilitator during the negotiation process.
“This Secretariat condemns that the brand has interrupted a negotiation process that was still underway,” the document indicates.
The Ministry of Culture called on all brands interested in collaborating with indigenous communities, to learn about and join the Decalogue of Original, an initiative in favor of Collective Rights presented by this Ministry.
–
:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/H4TPCHMIDBF5HMX4Y7NUOHYQSE.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
