Duped by a neologism

In 1896 Georges Vuitton, son of Louis Vuitton, decided to add a pattern to all the suitcases, trunks and bags produced by his luggage company. The malletier had been plagued by many counterfeiters replicating their previous designs like the Trianon Grey, Striped and Checked Canvas (later updated to LV Damier Canvas). The new design, named LV Monogram Canvas, included Louis Vuitton's initials and three flowers. By including the initials Georges Vuitton had hoped that this alone would help costumers see the difference between the real deal and fakes, like a painter does by signing his name on the canvas. A year later Georges Vuitton still decided to get his new design patented to make sure he could legally combat counterfeiters. His design has a total of nine trademark registrations including every aspect of this motif. This means that if people use any of those nine design parts without consent, the fashion house can take legal action against it. This made Louis Vuitton the first company in fashion to register a design as an intelectual property.

Louis Vuitton advertisement (1901)

A lot of trademarked designs can be checked in the European Union Intellectual Property Office's database. This can be a specific sole design like Birkenstock's sole pattern, Dr. Marten's yellow stitching to even ccertain technology used in sneakers. Some have even patented jeans pocket designs, which I didn't know you could do. Yet, not every idea is distinctive enough to be granted a trademark. A prime example is how almost every shoe brand has a version of Converse's Chuck Taylor All-Stars like Rick Owens's Lido Mega Bumper Sneaks and Alexander McQueen's Tread Slick sneakers. This can be attributed to inspiration since the copies don't claim to be Converse's most iconic shoe, but rather their take on high-top canvas sneakers. Rick Owens and Alexander McQueen's shoes are also more accepted seeing as the shoes that inspired theirs could be considered anti-fashion, meaning their design hasn't been altered much since their conception with the change of the logo on the heel and tongue in 2013 being the most recent.

On the other side of the (monetary) spectrum we have fast-fashion retailers that profit from copying designs from the runway as it's their whole business model. About ten years ago I took a course on how fast-fashion companies alter ready-to-wear collections from designer brands to vague yet recognizable copies. The proces is way simpler than I imagined because all it takes, is the removal of the designer's logo and an adjustment in colors since those might be trademarked as well. A couple years later a funny image on the internet spread showcasing how Zara copied Saint-Laurent's palm-print souvenir jacket from its 2016 spring/summer collection. This goes to show that all it takes is an image of the garment, someone adept in Adobe Photoshop and a patternmaker to start producing fast-fashion garments that can land in stores a month after they've been shown during a fashion week. This is one of the reasons why The Row decided to prohibit guests from "capturing or sharing any content during their experience." Many people online accused The Row of being elitist but I think it was a smart move of them to make this decision. Their designs are timeless and understated with a focus on craftsmanship and tailoring. This means that The Row is any easy victim of fast-fashion retailers copying them.

Gucci being copied by Forever 21 resulting in many lawsuits

Even though I love their design philosophy and the versatility of their garments I'm aware that the price tag is not for me. Yet, it seems that not everybody can accept that fact. When I tried looking for an image of their Garthel coat (my beloved) via Google, the search engine immediately suggested "The Row coat dupe." This just proves that many shoppers are looking for coats or other clothes that look at lot like those made by The Row. Unfortunately the company can't prosecute those copying their designs since they're not distinct enough. So limiting the publicization of these clothes can at least help slow down fast-fashion retailers duplicating them. Honestly I hope that more designers will also stop people from taking pictures or videos when attending runway shows. I know that this is something not every fashion house can do as some of them rely heavily upon any form publicity to make sure they can stay in the collective consciousness of fashion. As Heidi Klum said on Project Runway when announcing who got eliminated: "One day you're in, and the next day you're out."

Another route creatives in fashion can take to ensure their work is recognized as original is by including original artwork as these are always protected by copyright law. One of my favorite print designers is Camilla Franks with her brand CAMILLA. The use of prints is very popular in Lolita fashion with Kira Imai and Maki from Angelic Pretty being well-known print illustrators. Yet, in Lolita fashion the act of duping is pretty common. Bodyline is one of the biggest offenders with even having stolen Baby, the Stars Shine Bright's logo existing of the letter B inside of a heart which is used less nowadays. In 2003 Bodyline was one of the first to start replicating by copying Atelier Boz's Nun Coat OP and selling it as Nun Style Long Dress (such an original name). Naturally it didn't stay with one piece and Stephano has gathered 140 cases of Bodyline replicating designs by Lolita brands with Angelic Pretty being imitated the most (and Misako Aoki modelling a lot of them: you have to start somewhere). In the second part of the 00s buying replica's was considered pretty normal as it was a topic frequently and openly discussed on the EGL Community on LiveJournal. It became quite a big issue and Angelic Pretty asked the community to stop discussing the topic in 2012. Lolitas interested in still spending their money on counterfeit garments made their own community named Frill Replicas which hasn't been active since 2014 proving that the practice is very much frowned upon.

SHEIN stealing Angelic Pretty's Wrapping Cherry print and Baby, the Stars Shine Bright's Kuma Kumya's Face bag (courtesy of RococoRomance)

Fighting the rise of replicas in fashion is quite an arduous taks and, of course, a very costly one as lawsuit aren't settled for free. Besides that, many counterfeit producers operate overseas in countries that don't care about copyright laws. Unfortunately one of the biggest companies in fashion right now is SHEIN and they are also a big replica producer. They've stolen designs from even the smallest online creators showing how little they care about any form of ethics. Luckily these designers all speak out about it on social media platforms but that doesn't mean SHEIN wil stop selling the fakes. The issue is that if you don't browse through SHEIN's colossal catalog you're left to others finding out they've duped your designs. This makes these creators very reliant on whistleblowers to inform them on this intellectual theft. It also doesn't help that the hashtags #dupes and #reps have garnered over one billion views on TikTok rendering the consumption of, and search for, replicas into a trendy activity that can give you clout. Sadly I don't think this will change in the coming years.

Thank you, and take care.