A typically queer-friendly fashion brand is ending its Harry Potter-inspired line after customer backlash, considering Harry Potter creator JK Rowling uses her money to fund anti-trans initiatives.
The California-based Unique Vintage not only announced a new Harry Potter collection, but ironically, said that every purchase from it would unlock a 5% donation to the LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization GLAAD.
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In response, one angry social media user going by Catblossom wrote on Tuesday, “F**k you, Unique Vintage. They’ve been my go-to forever and this sucks unbelievably hard. Not getting a single dollar from me again unless they fix this.”
The user blasted the attempt at queer allyship through the GLAAD donations, asking how they can claim to support the community “while they spit on every ‘T’ customer (and everyone who loves them!) with this collection?”
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“You can’t have it both ways,” they added. “Either you stand with transgender folks, or you hang on to HP ‘nostalgia’ and decide it’s a valid avenue for profit.”
Another person simply wrote, “can *one* f**king brand not betray me.”
A third added, “11 years ago Unique Vintage hand delivered a dress to my door to celebrate my first 6 months of being on HRT when I was still a fashion blogger/model of sorts. Today they emailed me advertising yet another Harry Potter collab despite having previous backlash from one. I’ll never shop UV again.”
The anger went on.
In response, the brand emailed customers emphasizing it “has always been a welcoming and inclusive place for people who don’t fit a mold” and that they “have decided to move on from the Harry Potter partnership.”
The products are still on the website because the brand said, as a small business, it still plans to sell its remaining pieces “but will focus on promoting other collections.”
Some didn’t see that as truly ending its collaboration.
Catblossom also expressed anger that they received a promotional email for the collaboration after the apology email had promised not to promote it.
JK Rowling has used her vast wealth, mostly accumulated through the success of her Harry Potter franchise and its many multimedia spinoffs, to personally fund legal cases aimed at diminishing rights and protections for transgender women in the U.K. and Ireland.
Her JK Rowling Women’s Fund (JKRWF) helps fund legal battles against trans rights and offers financial legal support to cisgender women who feel they have been persecuted for their anti-trans beliefs.
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