Internationally acclaimed French luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton appears to have completely goofed with its latest menswear sweater after initially claiming it was inspired by the Jamaican national flag when it actually got the colors wrong.
Describing the $1,340 “Jamaican Stripe Sweater” on its website, the fashion brand had initially said the pullover – which is colored in green, yellow and red – channeled “the collection’s Jamaican Parade theme, with a striped design inspired by the Caribbean island’s national flag.” The Jamaican national flag, however, does not feature a red color. The Caribbean nation’s flag colors include green, yellow and black.
Per the Jamaica Information Service: “Black depicts the strength and creativity of the people; Gold, the natural beauty of the sunlight and the wealth of the country; and Green signifies hope and agricultural resources.”
The apparent mistake was highlighted by a Twitter user by the name @pam_boy who shared screenshots of the product and its description as well as the Jamaican national flag, Pop Sugar reported. “I cannot stress enough how important it is to implement diversity as a value and not a symbol within fashion companies,” the user posted.
In a follow-up tweet, @pam_boy suggested the sweater was probably inspired by either the Rastafarian or Ethiopian flag and not the Jamaican flag. The Rastafarian religion traces its roots to the Caribbean country. The colors on its flag include green, yellow and red – the same colors on the sweater in question.
Louis Vuitton later updated the product description and replaced “national flag” with “cultural heritage,” according to Pop Sugar. The product was, however, no longer available on its website at the time Face2Face Africa published this story.
This avoidable mistake goes a very long way in re-echoing the calls for more diversity in the fashion industry.
