Who among us hasn’t seen those knockoff “designer” bags being sold on the street and online, or noticed a Forever 21 dress that looks surprisingly similar to an Anna Sui or Diane von Furstenberg style, or noticed how mass shoe manufacturers such as Nine West and Steve Madden pay seasonal homage to the costlier styles originated by Prada, Marni and Marc Jacobs?
While it's true that most people can’t afford a $500 dress or $3,000 handbag, it’s also true that knockoffs - aside from being poorly made of inferior materials using (one has to assume, given the remarkably low prices) sweatshop labor - are also soon to be illegal, if the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has anything to do with it.
Since last August, when a group of US senators (including Dianne Feinstein, Charles Schumer, Orrin Hatch and Hillary Clinton) introduced the S.1957 Design Piracy Prohibition Act in the United States Senate, the CFDA has been rallying designers and the media to get behind the cause, which would protect original fashion designs for a period of three years from their registration with the U.S. Copyright Office.
“Technology has changed the way we do business, so although piracy has always existed and been an issue, it is even more serious today,” CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg told The Fashion Informer. “In seconds, images from fashion shows are transmitted to the pirates who manufacture cheap versions of original designs with the capability of producing them within 24 hours. We must protect American designers who are growing in their innovation and originality, emerging designs so they can flourish and, of course, the consumer.”
Once passed, the Design Piracy Prohibition Act would only protect new creations that fashion designers would register with the copyright office via the Internet. Designs made before the bill is officially enacted would remain in the public domain.
“We believe three years will afford designers enough time after their fashion shows - in which they’ve invested so much - to make their own accessibly priced lines,” explains CFDA executive director, Steven Kolb. “Right now, there are pirates who are profiting by copying a designer’s work with the help of Chinese factories, instead of the designer whose investment made the garments worth copying in the first place.”
“The fashion industry thrives on inspiration,” adds Kolb. “We don’t want to outlaw the imitation of a ‘look,’ just plagiarism. After all, a designer’s ability to create a trend is often his or her mark of success.”
This is something Phillip Lim knows only too well, having seen ill-made versions of his signature pieces for sale on the Web.
“If you log on to ebay and search for 3.1phillip lim, there are 100 listings - and 85 of those listings are knockoffs,” said Lim. “ And pirates selling our goods do a horrible job knocking it off. On one hand, it is a sign as a young designer that you are being noticed world-wide. On the other hand, it chips away at your credibility in terms of product and long-term customer education. Meaning, if someone who has only heard of the brand through magazines logs onto ebay to purchase a counterfeit and they receive the horrible product, they will associate us with this counterfeit. In that way, it really destroys our potential future bottom line. And the only thing we can do is report it to ebay. It’s like having your hands tied!”
In fact, Kolb believes that emerging designers are the ones whose business suffers most at the hands of fashion bootleggers.
“Design piracy is especially hurtful to smaller, up-and-coming designers whose growth fuels the growth of the industry and who can be put out of business by the pirates in just one season,” says Kolb. “This type of legislation will give them the needed protection to keep their business going into the next season. When the creator of the original design is given the right to profit from their creation, it will assure that consumers have more quality and authentic choice in the marketplace, as designers will be the ones making clothes at every price point.”
In other words, it’s one thing if designers collaborate with high street chains like H&M, Kohl’s or Topshop on lower-priced versions of their own designs, but quite another if those stores simply copy the designers’ work without permission.
“The designer should be the only person who has the right to produce a more mass market version of their fashions, such as the masstige offerings we are seeing at stores like Kohl’s , JC Penney and Target, who are hiring designers to work for them,” said von Furstenberg. “This, in turn, helps the consumer by bringing them quality fashion at affordable prices.”
Of course, sometimes even masstige stores known for their successful designer partnerships make like fashion pirates, as witnessed by von Furstenberg’s recent lawsuit against Target, in which she accused the Minneapolis-based chain of copyright infringement, based on an animal print wrap dress whose cut, fabric and pattern were nearly identical to a spotted frog wrap designed by DVF (all of which happened several weeks after von Furstenberg spoke with The Fashion Informer for this story).
“As a designer myself, I know how difficult it is to plant the seed, water it and nurture the designs while putting all you have - emotionally, financially and time-wise - into it, hoping to reap the benefits,” says Lim. “Then along comes a high street giant and they scoop up and pillage all your efforts and commandeer the fruits for their own bottom line. It’s unethical, disgusting and so blatant it should be should be illegal. Without any laws protecting designers, we continually face this danger. I think something has to be done - and soon.”
Visit the CFDA website to learn more about the S1957 Design Piracy Prohibition Act.
