“The Asian American community is rightfully demanding all of us think and act more"
American clothing label Chinatown Market has rebranded itself to “Market.”
Founded by Mike Cherman in 2016, the Los Angeles based brand drew criticism from the Asian community for its name.
A petition on Change.org stated, “the concept of Chinatown is not for sale, especially not by a white person who only uses the word Chinatown as a synonym for bootleg. It is an act of cultural theft for a white person to profit off of people like Lebron James, Alicia Keys, and many others wearing CHINATOWN clothing.”
In March 2021, the brand acknowledged the criticism and pledged to change their name.
“The Asian American community is rightfully demanding all of us think and act more,” the company said on Instagram at the time.
“We should have done this sooner but it is never too late to do the right thing. Today, we are announcing that we are changing our name. We are working with our partners and retailers to donate the proceeds from existing products and work to fund non-profits working with the AAPI community.”
On Sunday, the brand announced it had officially changed its name to Market.
“We wanna thank each and every one of you for your patience and support throughout this journey. Huge shoutout to everyone on the team and all the extended family for everything you did to get us here. We can’t wait to show you all the new products, content, and collaborations we’ve got planned for ya.”
According to Hypebeast, the company’s decision came in response to the increase of attacks on Asians.
In other news, an Asian American woman in St Louis has found a noose hanging in her yard.
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