It’s almost been a week since Taylor Swift dropped her surprise album Folklore, and while fans have been busy hunting for Easter eggs, one business owner is calling out the songstress for allegedly ripping off the logo of her online store, The Folklore – a concept shop that sells “exclusive styles from Africa and the diaspora’s top luxury and emerging fashion brands.”
Amira Rasool, founder of The Folklore, went on Instagram to point out the similarities of the two logos to her followers.
“This morning, it came to my attention that musician #TaylorSwift is selling merchandise to go along with her new album ‘Folklore’. She is currently selling merchandise with the words ‘The Folklore’ printed on them. Based on the similarities of the design, I believe the designer of the merch ripped off my company’s logo,” she wrote, adding, “I am sharing my story to bring light to the trend of large companies/celebrities copying the work of small minority-owned business owners. I am not going to let this blatant theft go unchecked.”
On Tuesday (July 28), Taylor released a statement, via her rep, addressing the matter.
“Yesterday, we were made aware of a complaint that the specific use of the word ‘the’ before ‘folklore album’ on some of the folklore album merchandise was of concern. Absolutely no merchandise using ‘the’ before the words ‘folklore album’ has been manufactured or sent out,” the rep said.
“In good faith, we honored her request and immediately notified everyone who had ordered merchandise with the word ‘the’ preceding ‘folklore album’ that they will now receive their order with the design change,” the rep continued.
Amir has since gone on Twitter to respond to the move Taylor’s team made.
“I commend Taylor’s team for recognizing the damage the merchandise caused to my company @TheFolklore’s brand. I recognize that she has been a strong advocate for women protecting their creative rights, so it was good to see her team is on the same page. It was a great first step and we are in conversation right now with Taylor’s team about the next steps to make this situation right,” The Folklore founder tweeted.
The Folklore founder also gave a statement to InStyle, revealing that her lawyer has been in contact with Taylor’s manager since Monday.
“Taylor’s team took swift action to have ‘the’ removed from all merchandise. I commend her team for recognizing the damage it caused to our brand,” she said in the statement. “I recognize Taylor has been a strong advocate for women protecting their creative rights, so it was good to see her team is on the same page. It was a great first step and we are in conversation right now with Taylor’s team about the next steps to make this situation right.”
Hopefully both parties can come to an amicable solution.
