The Local Artisan Guide
Design Theft
Last night Ivanka Trump walked onto the stage to the tune of "Here Comes the Sun" (much to the dismay and disapproval of George Harrison's estate) and while she spoke on behalf of how her father Donald Trump was going to make "America Great Again" and his plan to help small businesses, we thought it very hypocritical of Ivanka Trump as her lifestyle brand has been guilty on occasion of practicing the same corrupt methods of her father. Many small business will attest to how the Trump Organization will use their services and then pay a small percentage of their invoice if anything at all causing many businesses to practically collapse or have to let go of employees. Trump Organization assumes that small businesses do not have the funds for a long protracted law suit and bully their clients into accepting little or no pay for their services. Ivanka Trump is apparently a chip off the old block as her brand has been publicly called out and has a few lawsuits against them for design theft.
Ivanka Trump entering and addressing the RNC to George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun". More like "Here comes Trouble".
One of the problems of being a local artisan in today’s world is design theft.
Having worked in the corporate retail fashion industry for almost twenty years in the production and product development arena, this site is familiar with the workings of how large fashion brands create and develop their product.
In the first stage of designing a collection for larger brands the designer is sent on a shopping trip for aspiration and inspiration samples (i.e. other brand’s products). Some brands send their designers on adventures to be inspired by nature, cultures and architecture. However most brands go to Europe or Asia and shop for items of clothing, accessories or jewelry that will be part of their samples for inspiration.
A good designer would take one aspect of something they found on their trip and elevate and/or appropriate the idea to make it their own and within the aesthetics of their brands. It could be a pattern from an expensive piece of vintage wear, a dress from another brand, a piece of jewelry or a button from a low cost brand. Researching on the internet or catalogues has made seeing what is being offered globally much easier for most brands. The design team then creates inspiration boards which reflect trends, materials and color palettes that everyone has agreed to work from to form a cohesive style statement.
However especially in the last few years we are seeing well known brands that are high end or brands that specialize in mass production at low price points blatantly steal the ideas and designs of smaller, local artisans. Brands such as Zara, Banana Republic, H&M, Ivanka Trump and ASOS have knocked off designs of smaller brands without even changing much of the original design. Its not designing just another nude pump or t-shirt, it’s very intricate designs that are being copied detail by detail.
I have heard from many smaller brands that they do not let in other brands in their showrooms or even let buyers or merchandisers come in as they just steal their ideas and designs and have them created elsewhere. This isn’t only for clothing, its footwear, accessories, home decor, jewelry plus other areas of design. Many smaller brands are vulnerable to other designers just coming into their shops and downright stealing their ideas and designs.
These larger brands have access to legal teams and count on the “grey area” of stealing intellectual property from other brands. They rely on the fact that for the most part the local artisan does not have a budget for a legal team to sue for design infringement. Due to this atmosphere there is rampant theft of intellectual property that does not go challenged in the design world domestically and internationally.
While many may appreciate seeing a Gucci or Balmain knockoff in Zara now within reach of their budget they are ignorant that they, the customer contribute to the problem. They remain unaware that many (not all) of the designs they are purchasing are not original and hurt the business of the original designer whether it is high end couture or local artisans.
Much of the blame can be laid at the hands of the venture capitalist who have acquired most of the well known brands you recognize. These investors don’t want to hear that fashion is fickle, they want a return on their investment and for them part of that is laying a very structured design process that doesn’t breed originality. They want a sure deal. Their buyers, sales teams and merchandisers have numbers on what worked and what didn’t so the design team starts out with limits placed upon them even before the design process begins. There are very few brands today that are design driven instead of merchant driven. The big business of corporate fashion is one of the reasons there are so many local artisans out there as they left corporate fashion to design their own lines and bring originality back to their trade.
With the advent of social media, it has been a great tool to put a spotlight on when these infringements happen. Just recently the very artisanal Italian shoe brand Aquazzura has decided to take legal action against the Ivanka Trump brand for blatantly stealing their footwear designs. The style in question is very intricate and it was copied in its entirety. Of course in typical Trump fashion they denied they copied Aquazzura’s design however since the design was quite original Aquazzura feel they have a good case against Ivanka Trump and ask to cease and desist and take the product off the shelves (the main action a brand asks another brand to do when there is design infringement). The Ivanka Trump line also in the past was taken to task by Derek Lam for copying a footwear design that was quite original and not to be mistaken as a design coincidence.
Here is an example of Ivanka Trump's brand blatantly stealing from the smaller more artisan Italian artisan brand Aquazzura.
What is curious about this particular Aquazzura style is that Zara, Banana Republic and ASOS also copied this design yet they have not been sued as of now for design infringement. Aquazzura also is currently suing Marc Fisher for design infringement for another style that again was quite original and hard to believe it was a design coincidence.
One of the problems with corporate fashion and design is that most brands follow very similar processes and trend reports which makes it definitely plausible to have designs that are very similar. If you walk down Broadway now in Soho nearly every mainstream brand has white eyelet clothing and dresses with men’s shirting patterns in similar color palettes. This design process is what the larger brands are counting on for their defense legally as to why their designs are similar to others.
Ironically no one gets as upset or puts more money to stop being copied than the larger, well known retail brands as so much of their production is made in China. The counterfeit problem there is of massive proportions as the Chinese love owning well known brands. There are plazas in China that resemble upscale malls where all the product is actually all counterfeit. The brands get very upset and invest a lot of money to try and prevent factories from copying and distributing “their designs” as they rightly resent the lost of potential revenue. However that is exactly how the local artisan and smaller brands feel too when their designs are copied.
My recommendation for smaller artisans when they see their designs copied by other brands (especially their more intricate, original designs) are to send a cease and desist letter to the brand and use social media to highlight the design infringement. Once its out in social media that a certain brand is stealing designs it is hard to get rid of that reputation and these days reputation is everything.
In the meantime feel free to let The Local Artisan Guide know when this happens and we will be more than happy to shine a light on the matter. If we don’t let them get away with it in the first place this will be a diminishing problem in the design world however we all need to work together in the first place. And to the general public, as a customer you need to take on your responsibility of not shopping in places that you know are guilty of design theft. As for designers, wouldn’t you rather your work be an original? As Oscar Wilde use to say, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”