Fashion Ethics: Stealing and Copying and Referencing

I’ve had clients that are uneasy about asking me to review and reference original garments. I get it, you don’t want to be seen as someone who steals ideas. But there are fine lines. Copying and referencing are pretty much the foundation of much of the garment industry. Any professional that you talk to is complicit in this aspect. It’s just the way it is. Don’t @ me, it happens. However, stealing will not be tolerated. 

Stealing

A knock off is anything that is duplicated to be marketed as the exact same product, but cheaper. A great example of this is shopping for fake Gucci bags in Chinatown.  This is definitely stealing. 

Stealing could also be about finding a garment and duplicating every single detail down to the fabric and thread color. Basically taking an idea and putting your own name on it. Not cool. 

Copying

We are all influenced by what we see whether it be consciously or subconsciously. Fashion copying is very blatant. For example, someone made the miniskirt. It was a hit and others saw that it was a success and then made their own. I would guess that the original inventor was not thrilled but that’s no longer even a thought when someone wants to add a short skirt to their collection. The same could be said for skinny jeans or polo shirts. 

Let’s say that you designed an inverted 3 dimensional pyramid to wear (highly impractical, but fashion is not always known for its practicality (hoop skirts anyone?). Suddenly everyone wants your pyramid. But others are noting your success, analyzing your product and figuring out ways to do it better themselves. If your product is good I guarantee it will happen and you will spend more money in legal battles than reaping the success of your product. 

Throughout my career I have seen my share of blatant copying to which I was directly complicit because I was paid for this (Most pattternmakers are regularly asked to make direct copies, and it’s standard industry practice). I worked for one company (no longer in business) that had me knock off so many Burberry coats that I could easily slide into the Burberry atelier team because I knew their shapes, standards and measurements by heart. But here’s the thing- in the end, you would never confuse the original with what was produced. The original intent ALWAYS evolves and becomes watered down.

Even for large companies that I have worked for, most of the time we are starting with an original high end reference garment. It’s a visual representation of the inspiration. Contrary to popular belief, most designers are not sitting at desks sketching out ideas that pop into their heads. Nope, they are looking at what trends are being shown on the high end runways that can be translated for their customer and analyzing what products other brands are putting out that are selling well that they can also capitalize on with their own twist.

Referencing

If you are not well versed in creating a tech pack for a patternmaker then the best way to get your idea across is to reference an original garment. An original garment can communicate fit intent a whole lot better than a sketch. This isn’t to say that you should be blatantly copying, nor is this method going to leave you in trouble legally. No, I’m saying that if you have something that someone already figured out the fit on, let’s go with that. For instance, you want to create a button-down blouse, but with a fancy sleeve of your own design and a new type of collar. If you send me a basic blouse that fits the way you like it to in the body and shoulders, I can recreate this fit with your changes applied. 

I apply this especially to pants when a brand new designer comes to me to add a pant to their upcoming collection. Most designers are not able to communicate numerically the nuances of a pant fit and I’m working blind with only the waist and hip measurement of a fit model that I have not seen and a fashion-y sketch featuring a size 00 7ft tall figure. The best bet is to send me a pair of pants that represent a similar fit you are going for. From here we add any details and leg shaping to make it your own. 

When I mention this as an option, this is where things get interesting: some designers may have a sigh of relief that they can do this. But then there are those who start to get nervous about referencing an original garment. Perhaps even you dear reader are starting to question my morals about now. That’s ok, because here’s the thing: I absolutely guarantee you that your pant will have no resemblance to the original pair at the end. The original pant is a starting point, from here we go through fittings where shapes are tweaked, fit is modified for your fabric and design intent can change. 

The same idea applies for construction purposes, such as finishing techniques. For instance, if you find a garment that has a zipper inserted in some sort of way that you really like, send it over and we can recreate it. Construction is about process and garment construction process is not proprietary. We may even be able to come up with a way to make it “BTO”- a phrase that a designer I worked for used quite frequently - “Better Than the Original.”