More than before, luxury fashion is focusing on upcycling trends form street wear and incorporating different aspects unique to street style. Now, participating in trends or pulling inspiration from other designs is one thing, but to completely steal someone else’s design is just plain wrong. Imagine taking a huge financial risk to follow your dreams to be apart of one of the most competitive industries in the world. So, in hopes of reaching your dreams, you work day and night to design, produce merchandise, network, develop a business model, advertise, etc. You receive little notoriety or for your efforts. The only thing that is still pushing you is your sheer want and belief that you can fulfill your wildest dreams. AND you can! Then, receive a lot of messages from your supports/customers that an exact replica has been made for less than half the price by Forever 21. What do you do? Well, that is the tough question that a lot of local and upcoming designers must ask themselves. Recently, customers of local designers have been exposing fast-fashion giants and top designers for their sticky fingers. Below are a few of their stories.
Zara vs. Tuesday Bassen
Local business owner of Tuesday Bassen was disgusted after waking up to a page of comments from her followers warning her that her cute and quirky designs were copied by Zara. So, she took action! Her legal counsel contact Zara’s legal team immediately. Her efforts went in vein, as Zara legal team dismissed her claims, saying that there was not designs weren’t distinctive enough to the brand. Below is the comparison photo and Zara’s message posted on Instagram by Tuesday Bassen.
Image Credit: Tuesday Bassen
Fashion Nova vs. Kloset Envy
E-commerce fast-fashion giant Fashion Nova has dominated when harnessing the power of social media influencers. The company has made an astounding 500 million in sales within just 3 short years. They have pretty much any influencer imaginable on payroll, creating so much visibility amongst customer-base. Well, that’s not the only thing this company has been doing. Fashion Nova has repeatedly been expose for copying entire collections from local designers. They even copy the styling and model wearing the garment. This something owner Kloset Envy is far to aware of. Fashion Nova has repeatedly produced replicas of this local clothing brand. When the CEO of Kloset Envy decided to post on Fashion Nova’s page exposing them, she was swiftly blocked. However, Fashion Nova continues to steal from the local brand today, and the brand consistently follows-up to expose Fashion Nova to its one million followers.
Image Credit: Kloset Envy and Fashion Nova
If you notice any copy cats that you want to expose, share it with us on Instagram @hcscadatl.