“Muy mal!” proclaimed a smiling Guadalajara waiter when asked about the raging accusations against shoemaker Adidas and its huarache-style design of a new sports shoe, dubbed the Oaxaca Slip-On.
“Cultural appropriation!” he added in English, summing up the principle in play.
The scandal and legal blowback have drawn attention from no less than President Claudia Sheinbaum, her Undersecretary of Cultural Development, the governor of Oaxaca, the mayor of Villa Hidalgo Yalalag, the BBC, the New York Times, Forbes, and, of course, Mexican media.
The Mexican-American designer of the Adidas shoe, Willy Chaverria, has issued public apologies and promises to right things.
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