Let’s Talk About Pendleton

It is a _________ (put description here) relationship for sure. I do like the Pendleton and do associate it with Specials, Gifts, and Indians. I also know it is one company that knew a niche market but is a main stream company with quality goods. Natives have “claimed” the Pendleton with part of their Give-aways and with association of being with other Natives. Pendletons (and now Star Blankets) are associate with blanket ceremonies and all sorts of ceremonies like the Give-Away. Coveted blankets for sure. Not sure if the trendy thing is an issue for me right now.

I have often wondered your take on Pendleton and I’m glad you wrote it out.

I think the best thing is to delineate the history – as you have done here, although obviously there could be a more detailed account – and let people decide for themselves. Personally, just reading here means that if I wanted one of their designs, I’d probably step back and look to see if there were sources that more directly supported Natives or Native communities. Maybe there aren’t.

I have wanted one of the National Parks blankets FOREVER (we had one when I was a kid, a hand-me-down)… now I’m wondering if I should look into what and who I’d be supporting if I purchased one.

I think the real appropriation took place years ago, when the blankets were first designed and marketed. As the Pendleton site says, the blankets were designed by the mill owners, using designs and colors they thought would appeal to Native consumers. It doesn’t say that these blankets were also sold to White consumers as “Indian” blankets, but of course they were, as were similar blankets by other weavers like Beacon.

What seems to make the Pendleton blanket different from other appropriations is the fact that it has been embraced for many years by many Native communities. So I can see why you would have these feelings of ownership. It is an important part of your culture.

This is really not a new development – Pendleton has been putting “Indian” designs on clothing at least since the 1970s. It’s just that now Pendleton has found a way to capitalize on the growing “heritage” trend in clothing styles. Not Native heritage, mind you, but classic American brands heritage. Having collaborations with Urban Outfitters and Opening Ceremony is a way to get Pendleton woolens before a wider, younger, audience. And not just the “Indian” patterns, but the plaids as well.

When you look at the economic pressures a company like Pendleton faces, just to continue manufacturing in the USA, you can see why they are taking this route. For them, it may make the difference between surviving or not.

My perspective is that of a clothing historian. I am also the granddaughter of Natives, but I was not reared in a Native community. But I was reared in a community that continues to have its culture appropriated, usually in a negative way. I do realize it is not fun when one’s culture is taken as another’s amusement.

The point I found most thought provoking in your post was the relationship between poverty and Pendleton. I think it is *exactly* throwing salt in the wound of colonization. Blankets have cultural significance to our people, and when I think about that relationship I can’t help consider the opposite end of the spectrum – smallpox blankets. I guess, the wound becomes extra salty after we’ve overcome genocide to maintain or reclaim our cultural connection to blankets.

This is really interesting–gets me thinking, too. I’m Native, and young, and pretty hip, and pretty white-looking, and I think a lot of those Pendelton fashion items are just incredible. If I had the money, I’d totally be one of the hipsters walking down the street in a Pendleton poncho.

Or, maybe I wouldn’t. I still have the feeling that I don’t have a Pendleton because I haven’t been gifted a Pendleton. I’m really looking forward to someday having one wrapped around me by someone I respect from my tribe. So maybe I wouldn’t want to buy a super-cute pleated Pendleton skirt with matching blazer, because I’d know I just hadn’t received it right.

I can agree with you a lot on your post. It does seem like there is this sense of ownership with the blankets and designs and it makes me cringe to think of these new fashions. I would totally rock some of them though at the same time. Where I come from, the blankets are only given on very special days (graduations for sure, namings, xmas etc).

I was referred to your blog after making my own stink about this ridiculous trend. I’m born and bred in the Southwest. I’m from Jemez Pueblo; I am an artist and activist. Thus, when I see cultural misrepresentation or appropriation, I feel that it needs to be addressed. I’m glad they’re like-minded contemporary peers out there who can see the BIG picture. Although Pendleton is a corporation that has existed before such trends, they have existed only because of stealing Pueblo/Navajo design elements & aesthetics, clearly (ie. Pueblo pottery, Navajo rugs.) These designs come from sacred people, clans, moieties, societies & visions. I employ many of these designs in my Art and they have been shared with me by my elders. They are equivalent to totems in Northwestern tribes. Just like a lot of the indigenous “art” in the SW, it has been taken and capitalized upon, mass-produced and has turned sacredness into collectors’ items. Hence, the authenticity conundrum which only exists because of how much MONEY an article is “worth,” with total disregard to what we value it as in our Native culture (The difference between Native American Art & Western/Contemporary Art). The biggest industry in New Mexico is tourism, thanks to OUR aesthetic and way of life, which has benefitted those who live outside the reservation. When I see people, even some “Indians” wearing such designs, I question as to what connection they have with those designs. It’s as though they are attempting to represent my family and clearly they are NOT my brother or sister. Like many other companies, Pendleton has stolen from Native Americans and has sold us our own medicine. However, I do believe in manifesting anything with your intention/will and I have received a few blankets at my young age, with whole-hearted appreciation bt understanding the physical gift as a symbol of a spiritual blessing. Thus, I love the Pendleton blankets in this way. With my heritage/visual aesthetic on Pendleton blankets, I definitely feel comfort in the item. But then again, aren’t blankets a transmission of smallpox? Haha.

I’m an art teacher in Southern AZ. I’m also a potter who first learned how to make a pot by digging clay, processing it, handbuilding, and pit-firing. I’m a white guy, and I teach my kids about Native American art, but I’m not trying to be Indian. I try to include the more sticky points of indigenous art into my curriculum and let the students work out the complexities. The Pendleton issue is perfect for my class.

I guess I’m of the opinion that we artists and educators have a responsibility to research the cultural significance of any symbol that we use/teach. Most people don’t do this. (If I see another Kokopeli mailbox, I’m going to barf!) But with Pendleton…it’s almost triple appropriation, and the question of ownership gets all whacked.
I would never a Hopi symbol on my pots…it’s just not mine to use. But living in the Southwest, I can’t help but be effected by Native American pottery. And what about Mata Ortiz pottery? These gifted Mexican potters have appropriated symbols from the prehistoric Paquime, despite not claiming to be decendants. Is that okay? It’s a cunundrum I think about quite a bit.

So many good thoughts here! Thanks for getting me thinking.

I’m white and from Texas. I have no idea what a Pendleton blanket is, but those types of patterns and designs are extremely common here (on clothes, too). I’ve owned a blanket like it before, and I know family members have some rattling around their homes.

But I think there may be a difference between a bunch of hipsters wearing them to co-opt someone else’s culture and the seeping of one culture into another. My family has been in NE Texas for 150 years and my grandmother is 1/8th Cherokee. A lot of people here with roots that go far back have some Native ancestry. We all identify as white because that’s how we’re raised, but it’s simply not uncommon to find certain Native American themes in decorative goods (clothes, blankets, etc) around here.

Basically, I have no idea what to tell you. I’m baffled that the patterns are considered something new and unusual by high fashion. They’re perfectly normal to me. They just don’t have the cultural significance (blankets as a gift for special events).

But I think perhaps what bothers you and a lot of people is that commercialism strips any value from something like this. It ceases to even acknowledge the culture it comes from and instead is just something to wear for people to say, “Look, I can afford the latest stuff!” I wouldn’t worry overmuch. It’ll be gone by next year and then you don’t have to suffer through the hipsters who wear it.

Extra late, but this is an almost exact parallel of the company Vlisco that sells wax print fabric mainly in West Africa (esp. Nigeria). Of course the textiles are patterned on West African aesthetic preferences, and they even make commemorative prints for important cultural moments. However Vlisco is a Dutch company, and the artists “study” African designs and regurgitate them back to the population at sometimes astronomical prices (and they’ve been doing so since 1846 per their website’s history or “philosophy” page). Vlisco is coveted however. It’s considered the best of the best in wax print fabric.
Of course questions of appropriation did not begin to surface really until mainstream white fashion designers started using the fabric and calling it “tribal” in the last few years.

I’d like to argue that Pendleton and Vlisco were appropriating from the very beginning. It wasn’t until these companies starting showing their real motive–profit, that it became a problem. This is not to say that you’re wrong in feeling “some type of way” about all this. I agree with you.

As an Oregonian, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the Portland community of hipsters that spawned Gretchen from Project Runway and started this whole “hipsters wearing SW and Western” crap.
One thing, as cute as some of the Urban Outfitters things are, I personally would never spend my money there. The owner and creator of both UO and anthropologie is a horrible man who throws his money into radical right wing causes that infringe on people’s civil rights. And he is the sole owner, so the money you spend there goes from his pocket to those causes and candidates. He must laugh at all the money he makes off hipsters.

First of all I am completely and totally against Pendleton collaborating with Urban Outfitters because not only does their CEO donate money and champion causes that are against Pendleton’s humanitarian and humane practices and policies but Urban Outfitters works hard to steal designs and ideas from small time artists.

They’re a disgusting company and the hip kids that support their business practices are ignorant morons for buying ‘No H8′ (while the CEO pours money into right wing candidates and groups) and kitschy items (stolen from artists) from their stores.

As someone who appreciates design and textiles it has always been difficult for me when it comes to appropriation trends. On one hand I love them because of the rich history and designs these textiles bring into the public at large but on the other hand I understand that young people rarely (if ever) educate themselves on where these designs originate from.

I collect wool Pendleton plaid shirts from the 50s-70s because their quality, designs and colors are always suburb. I also collect West African textiles and Mexican (which is my cultural background and deep history…even though I look white as can be.. but that’s another issue) embroidery work on dresses and skirts.

I have nothing but respect and love for these designs and wear them with pride for the people who created them, I see them as wearable art and expressionism that is lacking in lifeless, poorly made modern clothing.

Would I wear a Native American design? Not while it is in fashion, no. I have too much respect for Native American culture and peoples, having grown up in the Puget Sound area, then to lump myself in with a bunch of other white buffoons who are appropriating culture (even if Pendleton manufactured and created these designs) without knowing of the history or issues attached to the garments they’re wearing.

Is it okay just to listen to Material Girl In a Material world As an answer?