Imagine you're out at the mall, or browsing online and suddenly see something very familiar. Something that belongs to YOU! How would you feel? Cheated, ripped off, maybe flattered? It's happened to many independent fashion bloggers, and happens more and more frequently as the number of influential bloggers increase (along with the number of their followers)!
The latest one, discovered by Parisien blogger Betty of le blog de betty, left her puzzled and unsettled.
It seems that Zara's TRF line 'borrowed' her photo and used it for a tshirt design.
It seems that Zara's TRF line 'borrowed' her photo and used it for a tshirt design.
While under the right circumstances, finding a tshirt with obvious inspiration from something that you had created would be amazing. If the company had approached you and you agreed to your image being used and all that. But if you come across it by surprise, I can't imagine the emotions you'd feel. The resemblance is too uncanny to ignore.
Other OBVIOUS examples of plagiarism by large companies:
Boyfriend tshirt by Thrasher Store (which they say they have been selling for 20 years now) and on the right, an Urban Outfitters tshirt, only on sale sometime in 2009.
On the left - cute earrings by LolaPop and on the right, Hello Sailor earrings by Topshop, which coincidentally were released a few months after LolaPop was featured in NME magazine in 2009! These LolaPop designs are CUTE AS HELL by the way! I'm definitely checking back at the store when it's open again (early June).
The design above originally by Tabitha Emma to be used in a Leeloo event, was blatantly copied by Alannah Hill for window displays around Australia. Shortly after the Leeloo blog and definatalie spread the word, Alannah Hill sent an apology letter, but the opinion of most other independent artists was that Tabitha should receive monetary compensation for her work being used by such a well known design house.
At the end of the day, plagiarism is rampant in all parts of the art community. Not just by bloggers or fashion design; also in multimedia, advertisements, novels, music, poetry, films and games. And it's not always the brands fault - they could just be buying the artwork off a hired illustrator that has claimed the work as their own. I'm sure most of these big brands wouldn't want to sell 'stolen' artwork... I hope honest young designers and creative minds aren't deterred from doing what they love out of fear/the expectation that someone else will profit off it!
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Original Sources
Betty's blog: leblogdebetty.com
Tabitha Emma/Alannah Hill: definatalie.com and leeloo.com.au
Thrasher store and LolaPop xamples from this interesting website (open for public submission):
omg that's so terrible! I =t would have been such an amazing thing if the company had come to the blogger first, but downright stealing their content is just wrong!
ReplyDeletehttp://voguishblog.blogspot.com/
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I know, if it was a legit collaboration, a blogger like Betty (with 10,000+ followers) could tell all everyone to go buy that tshirt. Instead, they'll probably get a backlash - people who KNOW it was a stolen image, most likely won't wanna buy it!
ReplyDeletefunny how your post came right after my lecture on copyright infringements on artwork!something like what zara did is not acceptable, esp. if they never asked for permission of any kind to the owner of the original image.
ReplyDeletei get how you can be inspired by any thing (hey, even i get inspired by loads of different artists' work!), but you don't blatantly copy! this is just very shameful...
wooooww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your tee is adorable!!! :-)
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