In a response to Cornwall’s allegations on Monday, Tribe maintained that while there was interest in the section, it was not enough to satisfy production quotas.

“Before recalling a design from the line-up, our first port of call is to speak with our designer, not only to notify them, but to also discuss the best ways in which we can communicate the change to our masqueraders while minimizing any reputational damage to the designer. We understand that designs are a labour of love, so the objective is to honour both our designer and our masqueraders. In our current case, we communicated with the designer who had a tough time understanding that the market unfortunately did not respond as favorably to the design as they did to others. Many adored the costume, but the quantity unfortunately fell short of what is needed for production. Given concerns of embarrassment, the TRIBE team offered to place “sold out” on the website before closing off and recalling the section,” the band said in a statement.

It continued: “CHUMA is a beautiful design so, undeniably, there was interest in it. And though the designer did in fact have interested masqueraders in contact with her to register in the section, these numbers in totality were unfortunately too low when considering the demand for the other sections. The TRIBE Band operates by clusters when we take the road, and these clusters must reach a pre-determined quantity. This, along with supply chain issues still existing worldwide, production in small quantities is challenging. So, the difficult decision was made to recall the section. Note, this is not the only section to be recalled this year within the group.”

A refund will be an option for masqueraders who signed up for the  section.

 Meanwhile, Cornwall still has plans for Chuma to be on the road next year, telling masqueraders to start tuned for a new arrangement.