Minnetonka remains committed to honor the Native American community and acknowledge the role indigenous culture has played in the brand’s product through its Reclamation Collaborative, launched earlier this year. The initiative involves partnering with talented Native artists who are reimagining Minnetonka’s past designs and, by extension, reclaiming cultural narratives and helping to shape the future of Native artistry in fashion.
“The Reclamation Collaborative was born out of a desire to honor and support the Native artists who have been integral to our reconciliation efforts over the last few years, while expanding our commitment to ethical collaboration and cultural representation,” explains Jori Miller Sherer, president of Minnetonka. “This is a vehicle to provide the artists we work with a larger platform to shape this part of our company’s—and hopefully our industry’s—future.”
Following the advice of Minnetonka Reconciliation Advisor Adrienne Benjamin, the brand began its efforts by collaborating with Native American artists and designers from the local Minnesota community. More recently, the company has looked beyond its home state, collaborating with Arizona artist Chris Nayquonabe, a member of the Navajo Nation. Plans are to broaden the initiative’s reach, inviting artists in other states to take part, sharing their cultural perspectives and artistry. Miller Sherer takes pride in knowing that the Collaborative is on track to become one of the largest Native artist-brand partnerships in the fashion industry in 2026.
Shoppers are embracing Minnetonka’s reimagined styles not only because they look and feel great, she says, but because they want to support a brand whose do-the-right-thing values align with their own. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the looks are on trend in terms of colors, materials, and style.
“Minnetonka’s first redesigned shoe—the Thunderbird Animikii [pictured at top], which launched in 2024 and is beautifully and meaningfully redesigned by Minneapolis-based Native American designer, mentor and educator, Lucie Skjefte—is selling 185% more than the previous style did last year,” Miller Sherer reports.
The Reclamation Collaborative is part of a permanent reset of Minnetonka’s corporate culture and its long-term commitment to recognize and support Native American communities going forward, regardless of political whims and recent anti-diversity activism.
“For far too long the fashion industry has profited from Native artists and designs,” says Miller Sherer. “We recognize that Minnetonka was a part of those practices, and we’re working diligently to reconcile that by working directly with Native artists to redesign appropriated styles and provide proper recognition and credit.
“It’s astounding to think that today 92 percent of Native American artists say they have seen their cultural designs used without permission and that less than 10 percent of fashion brands using Indigenous patterns collaborate with or compensate Indigenous communities,” she says. “Our goal with the Reclamation Collaborative is to not only reshape how Minnetonka is approaching this work, but to inspire industry-wide learning, best practices, and the further reclamation of previous inauthentic art of North American Indigenous peoples in the fashion industry.”
See more of Minnetonka’s Native-designed styles here.
Read Footwear Plus’s Q&A with Minnetonka’s Jori Miller Sherer here.
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