Fendi What Are You Doing ?

(Photos  Courtesy of Metcha)

Sheron Barber has been customizing leather for years for celebrity clientele . He taught himself how to sew and cut in 2010. One of his most iconic pieces is a 2 foot leather mashup with Louis Vuitton of Mickey Mouse .  His reconstructed design also has optional straps in the back to be worn as a backpack . In a Metcha article in 2020, he describes his designs in his own words , "I myself am a product of hip hop culture — this approach is what inspires my art”. 

This in fact is a similar to the concept of Dapper Dan with a twist. However , this morning something caught Barber’s attention . Fendi released a backpack with the same concept and Barber posed a question to his followers of whether he was being copied . Fashion houses have been found to draw inspiration and sometimes exact duplicates all of the time from black creatives.

Does Barber have a case? Or is he opening a can of worms to Louis Vuitton and Disney for the concept of “bootlegging”? I think that his idea is very creative and he’s very talented . I feel like these fashion houses should take accountability for their copying and just

collaborate.

Here are some of Sherrod Barber’s other custom pieces:

Here’s his interview with Metcha to read more:

https://metcha.com/article/behind-the-design-sheron-barber-s-mickey-mouse-backpack