Of course I am always open to respectful discussion on these topics, but I have seen some very positive independent companies, as well as their customers being verbally attacked to the point of physical threats by people who disagree with their mixing of cultural elements into their collections.
Since those small town days of escapism, I have gotten the chance to travel the world, and have discovered first hand, that in reality, this is all fashion is and has ever been. A gigantic mix of cultural elements from here, and cultural elements from there. From the days of the silk road, to the present Rockabilly comeback in Japan. A collar is a collar, be it the cheongsam, Peter Pan, button down, edwardian high neck etc. and fabric is fabric, be it tartan, batik, lace, silk, denim etc. Everything has come from one culture or another, and will be recycled, shared and re-used for centuries to come.
I have seen many of these companies who've been under attack, publicly respond with a canned apology, and promise to do better... but in the cases I have seen, there really is nothing to apologize for. To dictate who can wear what based on skin colour, is completely ridiculous and wrong.
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. Any abusive comments will not be removed to prove a point ;) Thanks for reading!