Louis Vuitton finally withdraws product that the Hindu community found "hugely insensitive"
Hindu statesman and President of Universal Society of Hinduism, Rajan Zed, protested the release of the Louis Vuitton yoga mat and was shown support from many other religious groups, including Christian, Buddhist, and Jewish leaders.
At the end of 2020, luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton released their very own yoga mat.
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The mat, with retailed for about R36,400 ($2,390) was listed on the company's USA website and was made from canvas, leather, and cowhide.
The sale of the product was almost instantly met with outrage when Rajan Zed released a statement saying that the company should not be "ridiculing entire communities".
How can a yoga mat be made of cow leather?? Its a stupid idea!
— Ratan Sharda 🇮🇳 (@RatanSharda55) December 25, 2020
A leather yoga mat is absurd. Louis Vuitton gotta chill. Who signed off on that?
— Aje (@FreeAgencyTV) January 3, 2021
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Zed also further explained the reasoning behind the outrage: "Scenario of yoga (profound, sacred and ancient discipline; introduced and nourished by Hinduism) being performed on a mat made from a killed cow (the seat of many deities, which was sacred and had long been venerated in Hinduism) was painful to Hindu sentiments."
It is also shocking considering that the LVMH's Code Of Conduct includes a section dedicated to 'Acting Responsibly and with Social Awareness', which should be preventing religious appropriation, mocking serious spiritual practices, and sacrilege.
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Concluding his statement, Zed made it very clear that Hinduism is not only the third largest religion in the world but is also the oldest and should not be handled in a careless way.
Although the overall message that Rajan, and the other religious leaders, wanted to emphasise is any faith, whether it is large or small, does not deserve to have its concepts, traditions, and practices ridiculed.
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Louis Vuitton has yet to release any statement on the matter or public apology.
They have, however, now officially removed the product from all the websites where it was previously listed, either saying it is "out of stock", not available", or "results cannot be found".
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Zed has thanked the brand for its attempt at fixing the issue and taking the community's concerns into consideration.
Hopefully, the brand has learned its lesson and other companies will remember this example of what not to do.
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Main image courtesy of Twitter