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For some reason, African fashion line, 466/64, thought it was a good idea to lie on revolutionary humanitarian, former South African president Nelson Mandela, and got busted — badly.

Huffington Post Black Voices reports:

In an email to WWD, James Cecil, president of Cadence Communications, which represents the Nelson Mandela Foundation in North America, wrote:

466/64 Fashion is making false claims that it is tied to Nelson Mandela — it is not, nor does it benefit him or his foundations. They are deliberately misleading people in the fashion industry — the name ‘Nelson Mandela’ is not to be used in conjunction with any commercial products. They cleverly use his quotes in their advertising, but this is not his line of clothing; he did not launch it, nor is he associated with it.

To make sure there was no confusion, Cecil added that 466/64  “[has] no affiliation with Nelson Mandela, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, nor the Mandela Rhodes Foundation.”

In an attempt at damage control, a spokeswoman for 466/64 Fashion issued the following statement:

46664 South Africa has its own board of directors and is a separate entity to the Nelson Mandela Foundation. 46664 South Africa has officially licensed 466/64 Fashion. 466/64 Fashion’s mandate from 46664 South Africa is to establish a global fashion brand that can create a sustainable income stream in order to fund various humanitarian projects. 46664 South Africa’s ethos is not to use Mr. Mandela’s name and image commercially. 466/64 Fashion is therefore not Mr. Mandela’s clothing brand or line and should not be reported as such.

466/64 was Mandela’s inmate number during his 27  year imprisonment on Robbins Island for fighting against the injustices of apartheid. He was released in 1990 and just celebrated his 94th birthday on July 18.

Read more about this developing international controversy at Huffington Post.

African Fashion Collection Lies About Affiliation With Nelson Mandela  was originally published on newsone.com

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