H&M's Racial Gaffe Illustrates Why Blacks Should Support Black Owned Fashion Companies

Blog Post - It has been reported by CNN that fashion company, H&M had to apologize for using a Black child to advertise clothing that had the phrase "The Coolest Monkey In The Jungle."  Really?  It's hard to believe that the creative directors and executives at the company ALL did not realize how offensive that would be to Black consumers.  With that being said, they in fact DID make that blunder.  They have reportedly stopped the advertisements and will not make the clothing in question available for sale in the United States.

Black consumers spend millions of dollars on fashion each year.  We often wear the clothing of name brand designers and many times elevate the "cool" factor for the brand.  Blacks have been fashion trend setters since the days of the Harlem Renaissance and African prints and designs have been used to sell many clothes today.

In my opinion we should use times like this to remind us that we should be supporting Black owned fashion companies as much as we can.  There are companies that take advantage of our purchasing power but do not have the care, concern, or sensitivities regarding the Black community.

We need to support companies that promote positive images of Black people not companies that don't even have the decency to be sensitive to our pain, struggle, and negative stereotypes.

Click Here to check out a few Black owned fashion companies in our directory.