If you’ve visited the Outdoor Retailer trade show, or just seen the content that the Outdoor Industry Association pushes out around the show, you’ll be familiar with the annual discussions around diversity and the panels focused on including a wider range of consumers and industry players. If you’ve walked the halls, you’ll be equally familiar with the tipis, mukluks, blankets and Kokopelli symbols that brands seem to default to as a way of associating whatever they have to sell with a historical past and a sense of the expansive outdoors. The juxtaposition of welcoming rhetoric and continued appropriation of Indigenous cultures is particularly striking, but the change in rhetoric is all that’s new; the outdoor industry has been appropriating native culture for decades.
According to Kimberly Robertson, an assistant professor at Cal State LA and member of the Mvskoke nation, cultural appropriation occurs when a powerful group takes cultural expressions (art, patterns, symbols and phrases) from a group that is less powerful and has been historically exploited and uses it for economic or social gain. In the outdoor industry, it’s sadly about as common as bright red Gore-Tex.
But not everyone is doing it wrong. Some brands are making a genuine effort to respectfully engage with Indigenous peoples. This means not only understanding, respecting and knowing their culture but also making sure that the proceeds from Native art flow back to Native communities. Here are five brands that are not only going about things the right way but also putting out excellent products in the process.
Olukai
Olukai’s shoes, sandals and flip flops have Hawaiian names and use Hawaiian imagery prominently. This isn’t unusual in the surf industry, but what is unusual is Olukai’s commitment to the culture from which those images emerge. They employ Hawaiian designers and use their platform to educate consumers about Hawaiian culture. They have also established a foundation, the Ama OluKai Foundation, which honors those who preserve and celebrate the cultural heritage and Aloha spirit of Hawaii. Recently they’ve donated to groups preserving the history, culture, and environment of the Islands.
Gear Patrol Recommends: Kulia Leather Beach Sandal
Muralist Brandy Serikaku, who grew up in Hilo and came to Olukai’s attention when she painted a mural for an event they sponsored, mostly works on women’s footwear, but she has also worked on amazing men’s beach sandals, including this pair.
