Fashion designer Bethany Yellowtail confirms the closure of the collective

Monday, June 20, 2022

By Acee Agoyo

Indianz.Com

famous fashion designer Bethany Yellowtail confirmed the closure of one of its long-standing initiatives, a collective that has benefited other Indigenous artists. Yellowtail, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Tribeannounced the decision in a email to customers and in a post on byellowtail.com late last week. She attributed the development to “false allegations and slanderous statements made by a handful of Indigenous people on social media.” “We hope this is a learning lesson for everyone and it will only do good. We pray this never happens to another Indigenous business or another Indigenous person again,” said another June 17 post on social networks Lily. Indianz.Com first reported the shutdown of the B.Yellowtail Collective June 7. The story included a statement in which Yellowtail accused several people — including Indigenous artists who once worked with his company — of trying to “cancel” him. In the four-page statement, which Indianz.Com obtained a day before the story, Yellowtail also revealed that its former business partner, who helped start the company, was “fired” due to a alleged “financial misconduct”. However, the assertion was not repeated in the announcements of the closure of the collective. Prior to publication, Indianz.Com asked Yellowtail if the alleged misconduct affected its business. She opted not to respond to the inquiry and instead asked who “leaked” her June 6 post, while promising to release a “public statement” about the collective. Shortly after the story appeared, Yellowtail blocked Indianz.Com on one of his company’s social media platforms. Subsequently, the same account was filled with posts in which she again blamed her financial troubles on a slew of Indigenous artists who she said were tied to a non-Indigenous-owned business.

Over the next two days, Yellowtail lashed out at the “world of cancel culture” and said “social media is not a safe space to solve problems.” She went on to say that she gave control of @byellowtail on Instagram to one of its employees, whose personal account also blocked Indianz.Com. “We have been emotionally, spiritually drained and the financial cost that a small business like ours has suffered from this cancellation will impact many natives and our families who have benefited from our business model,” Yellowtail wrote using the Instagram Stories feature. , which means that the messages are no longer visible because they have not been archived by the account. Yellowtail, which also claims ties to the crow tribe, launched the collective in 2016. She said the initiative has benefited more than 75 artists from dozens of tribal communities in the United States and First Nations in Canada. “Since its inception, we have been able to donate over $850,000 to our collective artists,” the blog states. Shortly before the Indianz.Com story, Yellowtail touted the collective’s successes through a series of social media posts on June 2. As for the investigation into alleged financial misconduct involving her former business partner, she declined to disclose when the decision to stop the effort was made.

But in the weeks leading up to the shutdown, Yellowtail described his company and his efforts in a different light. She gave a Indian Country Today interview during the Booking Economy Summit which took place May 23-26 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hosted by the National Center for Native American Business Development, the event is commonly referred to as RES. “We’ve seen how the collective has impacted Indian Country and helped set the price and set the bar for other entrepreneurs,” Yellowtail said in the interview in which she gave no indication. on the “financial constraint” she said she was facing, less than two weeks after the end of the RES. A month before RES, Yellowtail denied artistic theft allegations filed by another Indigenous fashion designer. The claim arose when his company in late April unveiled a clothing collection that has striking similarities to the work of the other artist, which had been premiered two years earlier during the Covid-19 pandemic. As with issues surrounding the collective, Yellowtail, at the time of the theft controversy, used her company’s Instagram account — which has nearly 198,000 followers — to slam Indigenous people who she says aren’t supportive enough of her people. efforts. She later alluded to her large following saying she was a victim of “cancellation culture”. “Just because we have nearly 200,000 followers and I had a meal in a celebrity venue doesn’t mean we’re a corporation and rolling in our riches,” Yellowtail wrote in the series of posts. of June 11. was simply signed: “With Love”. Since the accusing messages, which automatically disappeared from instagramthe @byellowtail account took on a different tone. Newer — and more permanent — content is more positive in nature, including a teaser of an upcoming clothing collection released on Monday. As for the B.Yellowtail Collective, sales are accepted at byellowtail.com until July 30, 2022. Works by nearly a dozen Indigenous artists are sold on the site, with 70% of sales going to the creators themselves. Yellowtail has not released or publicly acknowledged the June 6 statement in which it said it would “reduce” operations at its Southern California-based company. Social media posts say she employs five people full-time – all women – at the fashion business. She confirmed the number in her post on byellowtail.com. In the post, Yellowtail said “sales have dropped drastically” over the “past three months,” which it attributed to complaints against its operations. But she told associates her former business partner stole money from the company, according to people familiar with the conversations. Asked by Indianz.Com about former partner Kim Meraz, Yellowtail declined to answer questions, including an inquiry into their relationship ending. Based on the June 6 statement and the timing of conversations with associates, it appears the separation took place around early 2022 — or before the period in which she said her sales suffered. In the statement, Yellowtail claimed that Meraz, who is not Indigenous, was involved in brokering a deal with the artist whose work is at the center of the theft allegations. Yellowtail further stated that it “never saw” the final version of said agreement.

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