Hello Berroco friends! Last week, we were contacted by a crafter who let us know that the phrase indio has negative connotations that are harmful to indigenous people. We deeply regret using this word to name one of our spring yarns, and are taking action to correct this error to hopefully avoid further harm.
Going forward, the yarn will be known as Berroco Linen Stonewash, and we have begun the process of updating the name change across the board.
- Our website now displays Berroco Linen Stonewash for the yarn, and we are working on cascading the changes throughout our website
- The Ravelry listing for the yarn as well as the pattern pages associated with the yarn reflect the name change; if you’ve added the yarn to your stash, you’ll see it now says “Berroco Linen Stonewash”
- We are updating the PDF pattern files for booklet #405 and the individual pattern PDFs; if you’ve purchased a pattern from booklet #405, you should receive a Ravelry notification or an email sent to your PayPal-affiliated email address when the update is sent out
- We will be notifying retailers who sell our pattern PDFs when the new pattern files are available and asking them to update their listings accordingly
- New labels are being made for the yarn; to facilitate the transition for retailers who already stock the yarn, we are working on a solution that will hopefully be quick and relatively painless
- We are working on updating our promotional materials accordingly
- For printed booklets that contain the old name of the yarn, we will be printing an insert that will go out in shipments of the books
We will be updating this blog post as action items are finalized. We apologize for the inevitable confusion, but feel that doing the right thing and changing the name to avoid causing harm is of utmost importance.
Thank you for understanding and supporting and inclusive crafting community.
Berroco
Seriously?
https://indio.org
We recognize the name is used in other contexts. But we felt it was important to change what we can to help avoid harming anyone.
Good for you!
I applaud your seeking to cause no offense — however, there will always be someone/a group offended by pretty much anything. There’s a rather sizable town in Southern California, about an hour from Palm Springs, called Indio. Originally slated to be called Indian Wells (there were several settlements in the area with that name) it was called Indio, for the Spanish word for Indian. I was raised (thanks mom, dad, and family!) to show respect for everyone, no matter. And, if a word is used derisively, then I’d want to avoid it. But I also know that people’s actions speak volumes more than their words. Getting down from the soapbox now…. 🙂
There will always be someone offended by something. I think this decision was based on the current and destructive trend of political correctness. This cost your company a lot of time and money and in my opjnion, unnecessarily. Of course, I realize not many will agree with me, but this is my thoughts. I love Berroco. My very fav yarn company.
Hi Mary, glad to hear you are a fan of Berroco! We’re going to have to agree to disagree—we collectively felt that the time and money spent on this (which, to be completely honest, wasn’t that much, since this is a new yarn—trying to change Berroco Vintage, for example, would be extremely labor-intensive) was well worth the price of not hurting people, whether it was our intention or not.
How refreshing to see a company listen and respond when they’ve inadvertently named a product in a way that could be offensive. Kudos, Berroco!
Hi – chiming in here to thank Berroco for its decision to change the name of this yarn. Thank you for taking a step towards inclusion.
Well done Berroco!
It isn’t often we see a company go to such lengths to “walk the talk” of inclusivity.
Clearly, Berroco are working hard to rectify a problem they didn’t know existed when naming this yarn.