“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” – Oscar Wilde

It may come as a shock to learn that fashion theft is committed by your favourite high street brands and the labels alleged to have done so range from Zara to Topshop and it’s a growing epidemic.

Once a place to proudly present their amazing, quirky designs and potentially elevate their business through their growing followers and fan-base, Instagram was loved by indie artists and designers. However, posting their work for the world to see now also means making themselves vulnerable as it opens the gateway for big fashion brands to capitalise on their success by stealing their work.

Designer Tuesday Bassen is one of the many victims of fashion theft. She’s had multiple designs copied and recently pressed charges against Zara in which she spent £2000 in legal costs just for her lawyer to receive a letter from them stating that as her business is so small in comparison to Zara that her complaint is essentially insignificant. Unfortunately, a lot of independent businesses can’t afford to take legal action and have to sit back and watch whilst major cooperation’s steal their ideas. 

However, small business owners are coming together to educate people on the ongoing theft of designers and artists work and www.shoparttheft.com is a website that has been created to do just that - as Adam J. Kurtz, one of the many designers affected by this said “Once is a mistake. This many times is inexcusable.”. You can also buy the original products on the website so go and support the designers because as everyone knows, originals are always far better than copies.