This is really upsetting to me. The story is this – an independent designer created a tee-shirt that Urban Outfitters liked, they were in talks to carry the shirt, both parties decided against it, and now, Urban is carrying a tee shirt with a startlingly similar design to the original idea (a jet dropping cupcakes).
It’s not just my love of all things cupcake that feels outraged here. I’ve always chided Urban Outfitters for taking ideas that are fresh and cool and making sure they die instantly from over exposure, and I don’t shop there for that reason. I also don’t shop there because unless it’s Free People, a brand I trust, I find the clothes to be shoddily made and overpriced.
But this is beyond the pale, and apparently, they do it all the time – take a fresh, original design, tweak it enough to evade copycatting it completely, and then sell it. It may not be illegal but I think it’s pants, and I’m not going to shop there anymore, ever.
(Also, Karen would probably tell me not to shop there because I doubt their labor practices are up to snuff, but I can only carry so many indignant grudges in my head right now, and plus, I love the Gap. Sorry, darling. I know. I’m terrible.)
boycott!
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You like cupcakes? Then you should check out my most recent post. I heart cupcakes, too. And so does my dog.
I think this is how UO gets all of its design ideas. I used to make and sell jewelry at Fortuna in Williamsburg (http://brooklyn.citysearch.com/profile/41372033/brooklyn_ny/fortuna.html). There was another jewelry-maker there with fantastic designs, which were pretty much identical to necklaces I’d seen at UO. I asked the shop manager about it, and she said that UO routinely sends scouts out to small boutiques to find ideas they can rip off. (I don’t remember the name of the designer, but her necklaces and pins had clusters of fake flowers.) The cupcake t-shirt rip-off is particularly blantant, though.
No, I’m pretty sure it’s not just pants, but illegal. Personally, I’m boycotting Urban Outfitters due to their flagrant abuse of suddenly-cool Gang of Four albums.
Conrad, I think they changed the design exactly enough (it IS pretty different, just conceptually the same, jets dropping cupcakes) that it’s not actually copying, but you might know better than I do how well concepts are protected under the law.
I’ll bet, though I can’t be sure, that the test is whether or not UO would have made the t-shirt even if the one they turned down hadn’t been pitched to them. Hmm… something else to google, just what I need.