Artwork by Keli Lucas. (Insta: @kelilucas )

Earlier this year, it became apparent to the public that H&M had contracted a deadly virus known as LCEA. (Lacks Creativity / Exploits Artists)

Many of you thought that the first sign of this virus was when H&M made a horrible advertisement that was perceived as racist and offensive.

Remember The Coolest Monkey in Jungle?

Yeah…I haven’t forgot it either. Grammy award winning singer The Weeknd famously and rightfully dropped the brand after that incident.

In South Africa, people were so offended by this ad that they actually DESTROYED H&M stores. (You can see more photos and video of the violence in this Fox news article) But if you ask me, H&M has been destroying itself for quite some time.

A truly observant person would note that H&M must have contracted LCEA virus at least as early as 2013. That year HUFFPOST published “H&M Pulls Kids Clothes After Ripoff Accusation”, documenting the claim of theft made by the brand Littlephant.

Then, in 2015, H&M blatantly knocked off the Yeezy Season 1 Collection.

Cameron Wolf wrote an excellent article for RACKED that mentioned several of the brands who knocked off the Yeezy Season 1 collection including H&M, Zara, Forever 21, America Apparel (R.I.P lol) and Macy’s.

Left Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images. Right Photo: H&M

(Sidenote. And by all means skip this part…It’s funny how so many critics made fun of Kanye West’s designs and then we witnessed the biggest fashion corporations on Earth basically duplicating them. This a familiar theme for many creatives. We’re told that our work has no merit and then we see big companies making millions off our ideas. I may soon write about the global creative agency who stole an award winning ad campaign from me in a future article. But I digress…)

In August 2017, Hypebeast did a story about “H&M Ripping off Gosha Rubchinskiy and Vetements.”

There’s nothing new about this habit of creative theft from H&M.

If you ask me, as a culture we should have let brands like H&M die a long time ago. But we’ve kept them on life support because we can’t resist cheap t-shirts. We haven’t cared about how or where they’re made, who gets harmed in the process, or what artists get ripped off.

I brought up this very issue last October when I interviewed Patricia Field, the legendary stylist and costume designer who created the iconic looks for Sex in The City and The Devil Wears Prada.

After her ARTFASHION show in the Catskills, Patricia Field alluded to the deadly LCEA virus carried by H&M…

“If I’m offering a one of a kind to someone, I just don’t want to be undermined by the commercial company that takes it and prints it…and it’s out there at H&M for $20. It’s not about the money. It’s just about the integrity that I’m putting out there. And you know, you don’t want your integrity stamped into the ground…Not mine only, but the artist’s.”

This week, a popular artist based in LA has launch a successful viral campaign to fight back against H&M. The Daily Beast gives a fully detailed story of Jason “REVOK” Williams’ encounter with the brand.

After REVOK sent a cease-and-desist letter asking H&M to stop using his graffiti art in an advertising campaign, they refused. He sued them. They decided it was a smart move to strike back with a counter-suit. Yes, with all those BILLIONS of dollars H&M still can’t afford to simply PAY ARTISTS FOR THEIR WORK.

Just yesterday, Bloomberg news reported “H&M Falls to 9 Year Low as Clearance Sale Backfires.” If you ask me, it’s Karma.

According to the Business Insider Nordic article “Hedge Funds Are Betting Billions on More Pain for H&M”, business analysts have been confirming the reality already known to everyone reading this…

H&M is dead. Rest in Peace.

But this is no day to mourn. As we gently lay this brand to rest, we believe a new day shall emerge. A day when artists will be praised and valued by brands, then compensated fairly for their work and ideas.

We believe that brands who uplift the culture of creativity and artistic inspiration embodied by our present generation will surely be rewarded by the internet gods and at the cash register.

Amen.

Written by John Wesley. (Insta: @sirjohnwesley )

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