My Fashion Politics Were Fine...Until Palestine
Puma, Reebok and cross-border interconnectedness
I first mentioned Palestine in my Recipe For Disaster video about Puma in May 2023. I was nervous about posting it - not because of Palestine - but because I was calling out my peers. Ah, the naivety!
Puma had recently paid a bunch of environmental influencers as part of a marketing greenwashing campaign called Voices of a RE:GENERATION. Puma’s mission was to hear from those “most impacted by the future of climate change”.
This would have been an ideal opportunity to platform communities already facing the harshest impacts of climate breakdown—perhaps one of their twelve garment makers in Cambodia who had been fired for attempting to set up unions—but alas, that wouldn’t have sold as much product.
I did receive backlash for this video, but not for highlighting Puma’s greenwashing or worker rights abuses. Up until this point, those kind of politics had been acceptable. It was fine to call out colonialism! Until it concerned Israel.
In the video, I referenced how Puma is the main international sponsor of the Israel Football Association, which has teams in illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. I recently revisited the comment section (blame my luteal phase) and it. is. WILD.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we?
It turns out I had a lot of zionists following me—I think mostly due to being part of the vegan community. Israel has been on a PETA-backed PR push for years with the help of zionist organisations like Vegan Friendly and creators who claim “Food Is Not Political”. Until this point, my political plant-based efforts had been acceptable. It was fine to call out apartheid! Until it concerned Israel.
Similar backlash continued with aplomb after I posted a dedicated Puma boycott video later that year, and once more when Puma ended their sponsorship of the IFA*. Targeted boycotting WORKS!
I now understand that indoctrination is a big part of the zionist settler project. At the same time, it’s hard not to feel completely enraged by every person who tried to stop me—and so many others—speaking out. Because it wasn’t just comments from strangers that I received. It was texts from old colleagues. It was calls from (former) friends. It was smear campaigns from other creators. It was death threats.
Of course I took their allegations seriously. Antisemitism is very real and on the rise. But as with every political issue, I have learned to take my lead from marginalised folk, Black feminists and my comrades in my activist community. I listened to Palestinians and anti-zionist Jews. I read Rashid Khalidi, Ilan Pappe and Edward Said. And I continued to do the bare minimum: speak up.
If you’re someone who has been receiving fallout for being anti-genocide, my best advice is to block and move on. We don’t have time to debate genocide. Admittedly, this is easier with strangers on the internet, it is much harder with friends. I have lost close friendships over the past two years that I am still grieving.
*Reebok has now replaced Puma as the main international sponsor of the Israel Football Association. Please boycott Reebok. If you have existing Reebok products, find creative ways to up-cycle them and cover up the branding. Do not throw them out.
I recently participated in beach clean ups in Ghana with The Or Foundation. I logged the tags that we found into The Or’s data system—the results of which are shared with the public each month. There has been a vast uptick in Puma tags washing up on the shores recently, and I am certain that it’s because of the boycott.
It’s all linked! And it is ALL political!
Fashion & Palestine RESOURCES
Anti-Sweatshop Activists Against Apartheid is a grassroots community group comprised of trade unionists, activists and campaigners against sweatshops, who believe our struggle is intrinsically linked to Palestinian liberation.
Nol Collective is a Palestinian brand creating beautiful clothes that support local artisans in Palestine, constantly pushing the notion that fashion is inherently political.
Hirbawi is one of the last remaining Kufiya factories in Palestine and shows how resistance is woven into the threads of our clothes.
The Appropriation of Palestinian embroidery by Israeli Designers by Tasnim Alwa`l was recently published by The Tatreez Institute. It is a must-read.
In love and rage,
Venetia
Please excuse grammatical errors. I don’t use AI for my writing. This is all me! If you would like to support my work, then please consider subscribing to Slowly Does It.
Thank you for linking such brilliant resources, the effort doesn’t go unnoticed
respect <3 thank you for speaking out