Cultural Appropriation apparently "an issue" in the Bike Industry

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In the last several weeks, the discussion of cultural appropriation has (finally) reached the cycling world. In late July, Czech brand Apache Bicycles made its Eurobike trade show debut with a booth that featured not only the Native equivalent of blackface—white women dressed in buckskin dresses, sporting eagle feathers and posing under tipis—but bikes with model names such as the “Scalp,” and imagery of deceased indigenous leaders.

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-Women’s apparel brand SheBeest uses patterns appropriated from the Diné (the word Navajo people often use to refer to themselves) nation in their “Primitive” collection.

-Stranger BMX has a saddle called the “Reservation” that appropriates Diné patterns.

-Cult, another BMX brand, uses Ojibway dream catchers and the phrase “Native Land”in their marketing and videos. Given that many tribal lands are under threat from resource extraction and border militarization, the subject of Native lands is an extremely sensitive one.

-Upright Designs makes a bike rack called the Totem Pole. Totem poles are an often appropriated but deeply misunderstood part of the culture of the Native people of the Northwest coast.

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We can’t change the way Native people or other marginalized groups have been mistreated in the past, but we absolutely can and should make an effort to welcome those people into our community now. This is good for all of us

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