Reasonably Presentable

I was upset last week to hear that the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico does not think that the Navajo Nation, the second-largest Native American tribe in the United States, is famous enough for Urban Outfitters “Navajo”-branded stuff to legally qualify as trademark dilution.  Not a total loss for the Navajo, since they have a pretty compelling case (nonsense language like ‘tribal print’ exists because it’s illegal to pretend that you are selling the products of a particular Native American tribe unless you actually are).   But it’s certainly a blow to, you know, basically any tribe that trademarks their name to prevent exactly this kind of thing from happening, because if the Navajo can’t win that argument about their name, then who can?

There’s not much I can do as a private citizen, but I decided I can do these three things:

1. Suggest that you do not buy stuff from Urban Outfitters or their other brands, Free People and Anthropologie, if you care about human beings.  Urban Outfitters has a long history of doing this sort of thing and also not making clothes in ethical conditions.
2. Tell you a little about the Navajo and why they should be famous, even if the U.S. District Court does not believe this;
3. Share with you some actual Native American / First Nations artists whose cool clothing and accessories you can buy

For a more comprehensive list of Native American fashion and accessory designers, check out Beyond Buckskin Boutique’s Buy Native list.  This list is just a curated version of the ones I like the most: I personally tend to like simple things, and a lot of Native art is too intricate for my taste. If you have different taste than me, please do check out Beyond Buckskin’s Buy Native list.

I’ve tried to include options at a variety of price points.