Mother of H&M Model Responds To Backlash + Over 80 Black-Owned Fashion + Accessory Brands You Can Shop From Today

The last few days have been exhausting, to the say the least. First, brown and black fashion bloggers banned together to call out, Revolve Clothing, for not featuring bloggers of color on their Instagram page. Now, the outrage has turned to H&M for featuring a black child in this sweatshirt:

Personally? I’m over it. I just can’t lose my head about these sorts of things. Call me “unwoke,” but I’m willing to bet H&M is really clueless enough to not realize the offensive nature of the photo above. And if I were to be completely honesty, chances are I could have missed it, too. I’m the same complexion as the model and have actually been called a monkey to my face. Yet, when I was pregnant with my son I would affectionately call him “my little monkey” and even purchased stuffed monkeys for him. My mind just never went there. It can happen. Still, I completely understand why it’s offensive and I did cringe when I saw the ad. As a black woman, and mother of a black boy, it hit nerve see it in print.

H&M has pulled the ad and issued an apology, and word is Diddy has even offered the little boy a $1 million modeling contract. But the saga continues.

Most folks have somewhat come to terms with H&M’s snafu, and have now turned their attention to the model’s mother. How could she have given the okay, people have wondered. Well, she’s speaking out. Here’s what she’s had to say via her social media account:

Well, there you have it. Mom doesn’t think there’s an issue, so I’m not quite sure what else there is to say about this topic. I would much rather we spend some time exploring the many black-owned fashion companies doing the damn thing. H&M is not the only option for fashion, and the following list proves it. Feel free to peruse this list of over 80 black-owned fashion companies.