I just love it when extremely rich people tell the rest of us stupid peasants how we should live, believe, think, and feel. Semi-recently I saw a post by Selkie's founder, Kim, that caught my attention. It read as follows:
Hi there! My name is Kim and I’m the founder, creative director and owner of the brand Selkie. I’m posting for those that might be new here and don’t know about the origins of this brand. This is a safe space. A space where we celebrate beauty in all forms, a place people might come to heal their inner child, where we celebrate art, ingenuity, and the beauty inside us all. No matter the pronoun, the gender, or the sexual orientation… we are here to celebrate loving yourself. I founded this brand based on my own deep beliefs and passions- in equality, feminism, rIghts and respect for LGBTQ folk! I am queer, pro choice, Pro pronouns, anti gun- and I believe guns should be banned, that fat phobia is a serious issue and should be fought, and that BLACK LIVES MATTER. If you don’t respect these important foundations of the brand you may unfollow or continue to follow silently. If you leave any unkind comments or degrade any of our Selk community, or if you use religion as a weapon you will be blocked immediately.To those that rally in support of these issues know that you are treasured and I am always here, in the background, working to help keep you safe.
Anytime a company decides to put their "politics" out there, I have to stifle my gag reflex. I particularly love how Kim refers to her brand as a "safe space." It's safe for everyone who agrees with her and not for anyone else. Retail brands should Not be "safe spaces." They should be neutral zones where it doesn't matter who you are or what you believe. In fact, no one should even question what you believe, because all are welcome; that's what safety truly looks like. Companies will jump on whatever political platform they think will make them the most money and on the off chance they do actually have some philosophy, they always seem to go after people's religion, speech, and various other very personal things and almost always miss the mark on what's actually important.
Do you know what Selkie's only philosophical goal should be? To make their customers feel beautiful. That's it. Kim's personal politics should be as irrelevant as her customers' politics if she truly wanted to create a safe and inclusive space. It is, quite frankly, extremely off-putting to the point that I have been contemplating whether or not I want to buy from them anymore for the past few months. Never mind the sizing and quality issues. Never mind that they "over sell" items so often that they must have sea slugs in charge of their inventory. Never mind the horrific shipping delays, and dodgy customer service. Never mind all the duties and import fees. I've quietly tolerated all of it. But, here we are, and Kim has just given off a pretty long list of people she loves and supports right alongside a list of people she hates and rejects. Kim and her company are free to think whatever they want and enjoy all their wealth, just DON'T TELL ME I HAVE TO AGREE WITH YOU OR ELSE.
The fact is, I don't care what Kim believes; I care about what she makes. She's free to love and support whomever she chooses and she can even do so with company profits and I won't say a word, but the idea that she's willing to marginalize and ostracize others in the name of what? Peace and tolerance? Oh, the obvious hypocrisy! It's funny how being inclusive means excluding so many people and how often "Peace and Tolerance" come with the ultimatum, "or else!" So, after several months of consideration, I think I'm going to take Kim's advice and take my leave of her brand. Just like I've taken my leave of every other shop that decided to play politics. She wants to exclude people? Well then, me first!
Let's not forget that this brand gained attention by charging a small fortune to make adult women look like sexy toddlers in dresses with zippers that break within a few uses, a brand that while claiming to be "earth conscious" makes clothes out of the cheapest fabric that causes so much pollution in a country that has no standards for human rights, let alone workers' rights or clean production and that was actively committing genocide all while Kim was riding on her moral high horse about doing business with them. And the real cherry on this complete lack of sundae is Selkie claiming to be a safe space to marginalized people who are looking to heal their inner child only to then require that all must blindly agree with you and you'll reject or silence anyone who doesn't. Do you know which other group touts that same mantra? Cults and cults are the epitome of weaponized religion. It's all so gross, I've completely fallen out of love with this brand.
I still love the prints, but there has to be a way to get them on clothes that are better quality, designed to fit real women's bodies, don't use highly predatory marketing methods, and don't cost an arm, a leg, and your immortal soul. I'd like to think that I will be able to continue wearing my Selkies with no resentment and look back at the photos I've taken in them with no remorse, but only time will tell. For the present, I need a break or a break-up and the best part of it is that there won't be any hard feelings because Kim told me to leave if I couldn't fall in line, so I'm leaving for a little while or forever, she doesn't care.
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