{"id":12603,"date":"2025-08-09T19:12:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T19:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/mexican-authorities-accuse-adidas-of-cultural-appropriation-over-new-sandal-design\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T19:12:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T19:12:38","slug":"mexican-authorities-accuse-adidas-of-cultural-appropriation-over-new-sandal-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/mexican-authorities-accuse-adidas-of-cultural-appropriation-over-new-sandal-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican Authorities Accuse Adidas Of Cultural Appropriation Over New Sandal Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

Website design <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n
\n

MEXICO CITY (AP) \u2014 Mexican authorities are accusing sportswear company Adidas of plagiarizing artisans in southern Mexico, alleging that a new sandal design is strikingly similar to the traditional Indigenous footwear known as huaraches.<\/p>\n

The controversy has fueled accusations of cultural appropriation by the footwear brand, with authorities saying this is not the first time traditional Mexican handicrafts have been copied. Citing these concerns, local authorities have asked Adidas to withdraw the shoe model.<\/p>\n

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday that Adidas was already in talks with authorities in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca to provide \u201ccompensation for the people who were plagiarized,\u201d and that her government was preparing legal reforms to prevent the copying of Mexican handicrafts.<\/p>\n

The design at the center of the controversy is the \u201cOaxaca Slip-On,\u201d a sandal created by U.S. designer Willy Chavarr\u00eda for Adidas Originals. The sandals feature thin leather straps braided in a style that is unmistakably similar to the traditional Mexican huaraches. Instead of flat leather soles, the Adidas shoes tout a more chunky, sports shoe sole.<\/p>\n

According to Mexican authorities, Adidas\u2019 design contains elements that are part of the cultural heritage of the Zapotec Indigenous communities in Oaxaca, particularly in the town of Villa Hidalgo de Yal\u00e1lag. Handicrafts are a crucial economic lifeline in Mexico, providing jobs for around half a million people across the country. The industry accounts for around 10% of the gross domestic product of states like Oaxaca, Jalisco, Michoac\u00e1n and Guerrero.<\/p>\n

\n
\"website<\/picture><\/div>\n
Willy Chavarr\u00eda at the Fashion Trust U.S Awards 2025 held at The Lot at Formosa on April 08, 2025 in Los Angeles, California (Photo by River Callaway\/WWD via Getty Images)<\/figcaption>
\n

River Callaway via Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cThe artistry is being lost. We\u2019re losing our tradition,\u201d she said in front of her small booth of leather shoes.<\/p>\n

Authorities in Oaxaca have called for the \u201cOaxaca Slip-On\u201d to be withdrawn and demanded a public apology from Adidas, with officials describing the design as \u201ccultural appropriation\u201d that may violate Mexican law.<\/p>\n

In a public letter to Adidas leadership, Oaxaca state Gov. Salom\u00f3n Jara Cruz criticized the company\u2019s design, saying that \u201ccreative inspiration\u201d is not a valid justification for using cultural expressions that \u201cprovide identity to communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCulture isn\u2019t sold, it\u2019s respected,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n
\"website<\/picture><\/div>\n
A vendor sells sandals known as “huaraches” at a market in Oaxaca, Mexico, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. (AP Photo\/Luis Alberto Cruz)<\/figcaption>
\n

via Associated Press<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Adidas responded in a letter Friday afternoon, saying that the company \u201cdeeply values the cultural wealth of Mexico\u2019s Indigenous people and recognizes the relevance\u201d of the criticisms. It requested to sit down with local officials and to discuss how it can \u201crepair the damage\u201d to Indigenous populations.<\/p>\n

The controversy follows years of efforts by Mexico\u2019s government and artisans to push back on major global clothing brands who they say copy traditional designs.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the federal government asked manufacturers including Zara, Anthropologie and Patowl to provide a public explanation for why they copied clothing designs from Oaxaca\u2019s Indigenous communities to sell in their stores.<\/p>\n

\n

20 Years Of<\/span>Free<\/span>Journalism<\/span><\/p>\n

Your Support Fuels Our Mission<\/p>\n

Your Support Fuels Our Mission<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

For two decades, HuffPost has been fearless, unflinching, and relentless in pursuit of the truth. Support our mission to keep us around for the next 20 \u2014 we can’t do this without you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.<\/p>\n

Thank you again for your support along the way. We\u2019re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.<\/p>\n

Thank you again for your support along the way. We\u2019re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Support HuffPost<\/p>\n

Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Now, Mexican authorities say they\u2019re trying to work out stricter regulations in an effort to protect artists. But Marina N\u00fa\u00f1ez, Mexico\u2019s undersecretary of cultural development, noted that they also want to establish guidelines to not deprive artists of \u201cthe opportunity to trade or collaborate with several of these companies that have very broad commercial reach.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

Related<\/p>\n

StyleMexicoadidasClaudia SheinbaumWilly Chavarr\u00eda<\/section>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Website design MEXICO CITY (AP) \u2014 Mexican authorities are accusing sportswear company Adidas of plagiarizing artisans in southern Mexico, alleging<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7282,"featured_media":12604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-website"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7282"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}