Uh-oh, I just shopped at Urban Outfitters

I'm really hating Urban Outfitters right now. Their endorsement of the "tribal" trend is seriously out of control, and seems to only be getting worse. So today I stopped in to the store near my office to check out for myself what all of my friends had been emailing me about. And it was bad. Bad enough that I will most definitely be doing a long post about them very soon.

But then, I went down to the bargain basement, and I saw the BEAUTIFUL Pendleton blanket above. Gorgeous, right? and guess what?

...it was only $40. Amazing!

So I happily marched up to the checkout counter and bought it. Then I started to feel guilty that maybe I was buying into the horrible Urban Outfitters empire and am now part of the problem. But it's a real Pendleton Blanket!

I'm conflicted. What do you think? Clearly I have mixed feelings about the Pendleton trends, but I also love the blankets and think Pendleton has a good relationship with Indian Country.

EDIT: I should have added a little more context. I just threw this up here quickly because I wanted to show that I'm not infallible when it comes to these issues, and I get confused and conflicted all the time too. I don't make it a habit to shop at UO, definitely don't support their politics, and find them pretty vile overall. I saw the blanket, got super excited by the price, and bought it. Had I stood there and thought about it more, maybe I wouldn't have. But I posted it to just make a quick point about how even for me, who blogs about this stuff day after day, I don't have a perfect set of rules to follow.

As a couple of commenters pointed out (quite humorously--thanks Scott), I guess in a backwards way I did "save" the blanket from someone who wouldn't appreciate it for the right reasons. Maybe? (or just let me think that so I feel better?)

It made me think about how when I was in undergrad, the assistant director of the Native program at Stanford used to keep a box of random memorabilia sporting the Stanford "Indian" mascot from pre-1971. They were things she had found at thrift shops, garage sales, etc., and her whole philosophy was that she would buy it so somebody else wouldn't. I contributed a shirt to the box that I found at at thrift store in San Diego--even paying $14.99 for it, way overpriced for an old tshirt--because I couldn't bear the thought of somebody buying it and wearing it because it was "cool" and "vintage." Is that the same thing as this blanket? No, but thought it might have some relevance here. ha.

Thanks for bearing with me as we figure this out together. :)


Earlier:
Let's Talk About Pendleton
It starts with a trip to Urban Outfitters (my very first post ever!)