Suzanne Jackson’s company have responded to the backlash over the re-release of Keilidh Cashell’s palette.
On Sunday, SoSu By Suzanne Jackson announced that the Urban Bible eyeshadow palette would be going back on sale – two years after it was initially created and released as a collaboration with makeup artist Keilidh.
Keilidh claimed her name was removed from the re-released palette without her knowledge, and took to her Instagram Stories to share her disappointment.
The 24-year-old said: “I’m not about drama. There’s enough going on in the world. But this isn’t something I can ignore because I’ve already gotten so many messages about it.”
“SoSu By SJ have released our collaboration palette again. I don’t know anything about it, but from looking at what’s been put online, it seems to be the exact same palette, the only difference is my name is taken off it.”
“I’m just really shocked. I knew nothing about this, I never knew they wanted to bring it back. No one reached out to me at all about this.”
“SoSu by SJ is a brand that I loved and was so so excited to work with. I put everything into this. The shadows, consistency, the design, even the names are personal to me.”
“That was the biggest comment whenever we first released it – ‘this is so Keilidh’ I think that’s why I’m upset, if I had just stuck my name on it then whatever. But I didn’t.”
“This was my first big collection collab, and I wanted it to be so personal for me and my followers.”
“Just feels like they are discrediting all my hard work. It feels like a kick in the teeth. I’ve always supported Suzanne, I’ve always looked up to her as a woman in business.”
“I just feel disappointed or let down. There are comments under their post tagging me in it, and the page has liked them. To not change anything bar my name, it’s very confusing.”
“Even if they wanted to use the same shadows or concept, why not change it to represent the brand and not what was created with me?”
Taking to Instagram today, the official SoSu By SJ page released a statement in response to the backlash.
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They wrote: “Last night, we re-released the Urban Bible Palette. This product was previously created alongside the talented Keilidh Cashell.”
“Keilidh and the SOSUbySJ team worked very closely together to create the collection that initially launched in November 2018. Keilidh’s contract was then complete in November 2019.”
“At that time, there was an option to extend the contract but it was mutually agreed upon, not to. Since then, we have had demand from our customers who wanted to buy the palette again.”
“We are a customer-centric brand; since day one, our customers have always been at the heart of everything we do. It was, for this reason, we decided to bring it back.”
“We would like to address that we in no way intended to discredit Keilidh and the creativity that she contributed to this palette. We are very proud of the product we created together and it was in every sense of the word, a true collaboration.”
“To us, it did not make sense to re-package or rename the product. We truly believed that keeping the palette in its original form was a testament to Keilidh and the demand she had created for this product.”
“Of course, as we were outside of the contract, however, we could not print her name on the product. Saying this, what we would like to apologise for, is not communicating to Keilidh our intentions to bring the palette back to the market.”
“This was a missed step on our behalf and for that, we apologise.”
“With any product collaboration, the brand owns the rights to the products – just as we do with Urban Bible and therefore legally, are allowed to produce it.”
“However, as we respect Keilidh’s feelings on the situation, we have decided to remove the product from the sale with immediate effect. This is not a decision we take lightly as of course there are financial investments involved, but as well as our words of apology we want to show action.”
“We will learn from this because we care about the people who collaborate with us and are associated with our brand. We would like to reiterate that there was no intention here to hurt or upset anyone.”
“Thank you all for your continued support.”
