A controversy has ignited concerning one of Louis Vuitton newest menswear designs called “Jamaican Stripe Sweater.”
The sweater which costs $1,340 was first called out by a twitter user @pam_boy, concerning the colors used for the sweater. The sweater features three colors in stripes : green, yellow and red, which the country’s color is green, yellow and black.
Drawing attention to the sweater and Jamaican flag, @pam_boy tweeted :
“I cannot stress enough how important it is to implement diversity as a value and not a symbol within fashion companies“
Louis Vuitton’s Jamaican stripe pullover & Jamaica’s actual flag.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to implement diversity as a value and not a symbol within fashion companies. pic.twitter.com/neg2W3uIE3
— @PAM_BOY (@pam_boy) February 2, 2021
Louis Vuitton’s creative director of menswear, Virgil Abloh, seems to have a thing for Jamaican culture, as noted by Popsugar, he has in the past collaborated with Jamaican skateboarder, Lucien Clarke. The issue with this particular sweater is not that it was inspired by a flag or a culture; it’s that the original product description allegedly said the sweater was modeled after the Jamaican flag, when in fact it was not.
Twitter users were quick to notice that the sweater from Louis Vuitton resembles the Rastafarian flag, a religious movement with roots in Jamaica, as opposed to the official Jamaican flag.
The colors of the Jamaica flag represents : Black depicts the strength and creativity of the people; Yellow, the natural wealth and beauty of sunlight; and Green, hope and agricultural resources, according to opm.gov
The Fashion brand further updated the description of the sweater, removing the word ‘flag‘ and replacing it with ‘cultural heritage‘.
