Influence of Cultural Appropriation:
The huge issue of cultural appropriation within the fashion industry has knock on effects for brands, consumers and designers when any issue may be recognised. 
An issue for particular items is stock and profits, for items that are deemed inappropriate. If a brand is accused of appropriating a culture or identity with a certain peice of clothing and this garment is then removed from sales online and in store, the brand is then losing any chance of profit on the garment, and as they have already paid manufacturers to make and send the garment, this is a financial loss for the brand. An example of an item that was shelved following public backlash and accused of appropriation, was in 2018 when Gucci had to remove a black turtle neck jumper from their Autumn/Winter 2018 collection; the "balaclava" jumper, priced at £890, was a turtle neck which intentionally covered the bottom half of the model's face, and there was a pair of exaggerated red lips and then a mouth hole around where the consumer's lips would be. There was huge criticism of this jumper, as it heavily resembled blackface. This was made so much worse for Gucci as the photo was posted on their social media during Black History Month. 
In instances of items that have been taken off sales following criticism, this poses a problem for the manufacturers who are simply making the ordered garments. If the items have previously been ordered for a set date and then they are cancelled before completion, this could potentially result in manufacturers not being paid what they were expecting to be paid, or having a delay in wages. These workers are already on minimum wage so this would be a huge impact to them. 
Another effect from this issue is the change in consumer choice when shopping. In this time when consumers are more aware than ever about ethical shopping and trustworthy brands to shop with, this could be an impact from things like appropriation issues which lead to consumers shopping with other brands. Referencing back to the questionnaire carried out (please see further up), 100% of the people who answered were aware of what cultural appropration is, and over 50% of them said that it is important for brands to take accountability for issues when they are called out on it. 
Based on these responses it would be fair to assume that due to recent cases of brands appropriating different cultures, that consumers would be more likely to not shop with these brands and turn to brands who campaign and show diversity in their shows and in advertising. 
Another recent example of the impact this can have on brands is a top that H&M published online, of an African-American boy sporting a top that said "cutest monkey in the jungle". This sparked major controversy, and ended up with artist The Weeknd, who was partnered with them, stopping this partnership and cutting ties with them. When The Weeknd announced he would not be working with them any longer on Twitter, this was seen by his over 8 million followers. This led to bad press on H&M, who almost immediately issued a public apology and announced they had removed the top in question.

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