“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.
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Various artist's original designs pictured alongside Zara's copies. |
Laurie Lee Leather who specialises in beautifully striking hand-painted leather often receives comments from her followers on Instagram stating how they’ve seen copies of her work on bigger brands websites. She even recently posted this photo claiming Asos have recently stolen one of her designs which she’d subsequently watched them photograph at London Fashion Week Designer Showrooms just a few months prior. The fact that these brands go about it in such an audacious, indiscreet way is shocking and shows how little guilt or care they have for what they are doing and how it may affect people. Laurie Lee is currently waiting for them to get back to her regarding the issue and at present the jacket cannot been found on the Asos site.
On the right: Laurie Lee's 'Heartbreaker leather jacket. On the right: Asos' 'Heartbreaker' leather jacket.
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.
