Mexico stated that Zara, Anthropologie, and Patowl all use a model unique to Mexican indigenous communities and require each brand to provide “a basis for publicly explaining that it can privatize collective property.”

Mexico accused the international fashion brands Zara, Anthropologie and Patowl of misappropriating culture, saying that they used Mexican indigenous groups in their designs, which did no good to the community.

The Mexican Ministry of Culture stated in a statement on Friday that it had sent a letter signed by the Mexican Minister of Culture Alejandra Frausto to all three global companies, requiring each company to ” It can publicly explain the basis for the privatization of collective property”.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Zara, owned by Inditex, the world’s largest clothing retailer, uses a unique pattern that is different from the indigenous Mixteca community in San Juan, Oaxaca, Colorado.

Inditex said in a statement to Reuters: “The design in question was never deliberately borrowed from or influenced by the art of the Mystic people in Mexico.”

According to the Ministry of Culture, Anthropologie under URBN used a design developed by the indigenous mixed community of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, while Patowl copied the model of the indigenous Zapoteco community of San Antonino Castillo Velasco in Oaxaca.

URBN and Patowl did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In recent years, the extent to which fashion designers profit from integrating cultural design without acknowledging their origins or fair compensation to the community has been the focus of controversy.

In 2019, the Mexican government accused the fashion company Carolina Herrera of cultural misappropriation of indigenous patterns and textiles from Mexico in its collections.

Puig, Carolina Herrera’s parent company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to reports, in 2019, Herrera’s creative director Wes Gordon stated that the series “pays homage to the rich Mexican culture.”