>> CATHY: RECLAMATION, RESURGENCE, RESILIENCE.

NATIVE AMERICAN FASHION AND ART IS BECOMING MORE VISIBLE THESE DAYS.

KAOMI LEE MET ONE OJIBWE ARTIST WHO IS HELPING TO CREATE THESE AUTHENTIC DESIGNS, AND KEEP OTHERS ACCOUNTABLE.

>> HI, ARE YOU ADRIEAN?

>> I AM.

HOW ARE YOU?

NICE TO MEET YOU.

COME ON IN.

THIS IS MY LITTLE HOME, MAKESHIFT STUDIO IN MY HOUSE.

>> OKAY, SO YOU DO ALL THE WORK RIGHT HERE.

>> I DO.

>> AT HER HOME NEAR ISLI, MINNESOTA, ADRIEAN BENJAMIN IS PART OF A GROWING RESURGENCE IN NATIVE DESIGN.

>> I'M A DESIGNER, I FEEL LIKE I'M ALSO KIND OF A TEACHING ARTIST, FIRST.

>> BENJAMIN HAS BEEN SUING ANISHINAABE REGALIA AND ATTIRE FOR DECADES.

WHEN SHE WAS YOUNG, AN ELDER TAUGHT HER HOW TO MAKING HE WILL DRESSES AND RIBBON SKIRTS TO KEEP THE TRADITIONAL CULTURE ALIFE.

NOW BENJAMIN'S CLOTHES REGULARLY SELL OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE LOOKS ARE NOT JUST FOR POW-WOWS NATIVE AMERICAN.

>> WHEN I THINK ABOUT IT, I THINK THAT HE'S RECLAMATION IN A BIG WAY, YOU KNOW, EVEN PEGGY FLANAGAN, TO BE EEN, YOU KNOW, VISUAL REPRESENTATION OUT THERE, WHAT THAT DOES FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN GENERAL, IS CRAZY.

>> WHETHER IT'S MINNESOTA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR FLANAGAN OR U.S.

INTERIOR SECRETARY DEB HOLLAND, A RECLAMATION OR RESURGENCE IN NATIVE FASHION IS VISIBLE.

>> ONE OF THE PRODUCTS THAT WE CARRY IS NTVS, NATIVES AND THEY HAVE A WHOLE DIFFERENT CLOSING LINE.

THEY HAVE A LOT OF DIFFERENT T-SHIRTS.

>> IT WASN'T ALWAYS THIS WAY.

BOARDING SCHOOLS FORCED GENERATIONS OF NATIVE AMERICANS TO BE ASHAMED OF WHO THEY WERE.

FEW COULD MAKE A LIVING OFF THEIR ART.

AND THAT'S WHY IT MATTERS NOW.

>> SO ANOTHER COMPANY IS ROUND LAKE TRADITION AND THAT'S BY HERB FINDE, ALSO A FOND DU LAC MEMBER AND HE DOES THE DENIM SHIRTS -- >> THERE'S ALSO RIBBON SKIRTS, WEIGHT SHIRTS AND HATS, AND THE NUMBER OF NATIVE CLOTHING BRANDS IS GROWING.

>> IT'S WONDERFUL TO SEE PEOPLE COME IN HERE, ESPECIALLY SOME OF THE KIDS AND SOME OF THE YOUNGER PEOPLE THAT WANT TO START WEARING THESE ITEMS AND TAKE RIDE IN THEIR CULTURE, YOU KNOW, AND BE ABLE TO REPRESENT THEIR CULTURE BY HAVING A CLOTHING LINE THAT'S FOR THEM AND THAT'S DESIGNED BY PEOPLE LIKE THEM.

>> TODAY'S FOCUS ON NATIVE DESIGNERS AND RT IS AN ACT OF RESILIENCE TO DECADES OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION BY NON-NATIVE COMPANIES.

ZIMMERMAN SAYS, ANYTHING THAT USES GENERIC OR ROMANTICIZED NATIVE IMAGERY IS PROBABLY NOT AUTHENTIC.

>> HOW IS CULTURAL APPROPRIATION HARMFUL?

>> WELL, FOR ONE THING, I THINK THAT AMERICAN INDIAN ARTISTS AREN'T GETTING CREDITED FOR THEIR WORK, AND A LOT OF TIMES WITH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND THINGS LIKE THAT, THAT NATIVE AMERICANS, IF -- LET'S SAY THEY HAVE A BEAD WORK DESIGN AND IT GETS APPROPRIATED AND PUT ON A SHIRT AND SOMEONE IS SELLING IT, IT'S OKAY, OKAY, YOU JUST RIPPED OFF MY ART.

>> BUT IT'S COMPLICATED.

SOME BIG NAME COMPANIES THAT HAVE APPROPRIATED NATIVE DESIGNS FOR YEARS ARE ALSO BELOVED BY MANY NATIVE AMERICANS.

SOME ARE NOW TRYING TO MAKE AMENDS.

TORREY MILLER SCHEER IS PRESIDENT AND A FOURTH GENERATION FAMILY MEMBER AT MINNETONKA.

HER GREAT-GRANDFATHER GOT INVOLVED IN THE COMPANY IN 1946.

HER GRANDFATHER JOINED SOON AFTER.

>> AND IT WAS REALLY AT THAT TIME, LIKE, A GIFT SHOP SOUVENIR COMPANY, THAT WAS A TIME IN OUR COUNTRY WHEN PEOPLE WERE GOING ON ROAD TRIPS.

>> THE NATIVE-INSPIRED MOCCASIN BECAME A BEST-SELLER.

>> 77 YEARS FROM THE MAJORITY OF THAT TIME DID NOT UNDERSTAND CULTURAL APPROPRIATION.

AND I WOULD SAY IN THE LAST DECADE, WE'VE REALLY STARTED TO THINK ABOUT IT AND START TO BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IT WAS AND WHAT WE WERE DOING.

AND THERE WERE A FEW YEARS WHERE WE WERE REALLY PARALYZED BY FEAR.

>> BUT IN 2019, THE COMPANY STARTED REACHING UT TO NATIVE AMERICANS, WHO BECAME ADVISORS ADVISORS.

CHEER SAYS THE COMPANY'S CULTURE AND MIDWESTERN NATURE WAS TO STAY QUIET BUT GEORGE FLOYD WAS MURDERED IN THIS STATE AND WITH THEIR ADVISOR'S HELP, MINNETONKA STARTED TO CHANGE.

>> IF YOU'RE GOING TO DO THIS AND DO IT RIGHT, YOU HAVE TO DO SOME SERIOUS LOOKING IN THE MIRROR AND YOU HAVE TO FACE THINGS AND BE OPEN AND GET PAST MAYBE INITIAL SELF-DEFENSE FEELINGS AND THEN WE IN SUMMER, 2020, PUBLISHED AN APOLOGY ON OUR WEBSITE AND TALKED ABOUT IT VERY CLEARLY.

WE CALLED IT APPROPRIATION, SO WE ACKNOWLEDGED WHAT IT WAS, WE APOLOGIZED FOR IT AND WE SAID, COME BACK AND CHECK IN THE FALL AND WE'LL HAVE MORE OF A PLAN.

COMING THIS SUMMER IS THIS COLLABORATION WITH ADRIEAN.

>> MINNETONKA ALSO CHANGED ITS LOGO, AND IT BEGAN COLLABORATING WITH NATIVE AMERICAN DESIGNSERS LIKE ADRIENNE BENJAMIN ON A LINE OF BEADED HATS AND LUCY SHEFTY ON A NEW BEADED MOCK SIGN DESIGN.

THE COMPANY DONATES TO NATIVE AMERICAN ENTITIES.

SCHEER, WITH IN HER LATE 30s, SAYS THAT TOO IS GETTING A MAKEOVER.

IT'S THESE EFFORTS THAT HAVE CONVINCED BENJAMIN THE COMPANY WANTS TO DO BETTER.

>> THAT REVOLUTION HAS TO COME THROUGH ALLEYSHIP AND I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE MAYBE DON'T THINK THAT AND THAT'S OKAY BUT I THINK, LIKE, PEOPLE CAN -- AND DESERVE