Taylor Swift did a quick rebrand in response to a complaint from the owner of a website with the same name and a similar logo to the one found on the merchandise for her new album.
According to Women’s Wear Daily, the pop star changed the name for her merchandise from “The Folklore” to simply “Folklore” after Amira Rasool, the owner of The Folklore, a website for African apparel and accessories designers, complained that it was causing confusion amongst customers. Rasool had her lawyers reach out to Swift’s team to draw their attention to the similarity of both the name and logo design.
“The main thing was having ‘The Folklore’ when the album was just called ‘Folklore,’” Rasool explained to WWD. She said that she also believes that the way the word “the” is positioned vertically in the logo is too similar to her own. Swift is currently selling sweatshirts, t-shirts, and cardigans to promote her new album that all feature this design.
Rasool says the singer’s team responded immediately and will remove the “The” from all merchandise. Their lawyers are also still in conversation “about next steps.” “I commend them for removing that, but I think there’s a larger conversation that needs to be had,” she said. “It’s not just damaging to one Black woman, it’s all the brands that we work with.”
She adds that Swift’s fans have attacked her for speaking out, “calling me a bitch and a liar,” and while the Swifties have accused her of being merely an attention seeker, Rasool counters, “I think there was a lot of damage to my brand for me speaking out. I don’t think I deserved that.”
Swift’s publicist declined to comment on the WWD story.
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