The gospel according to Forever 21 (Guardian)
“This is the American fashion chain run as a family business, the chain that, thanks to its “pile very high, sell very cheap” operation, has been a phenomenal success, with profits (in 2008) of $135m despite the fact that nothing it sells costs more than $65.”

Mulberry Tops Fashion Retailers on Sales Boom (Bloomberg)
“The 40-year-old British luxury-handbag maker, is the world’s best-performing fashion retail stock over the past year… Investors are betting Mulberry…will join the likes of Burberry Group Plc as an iconic luxury brand.”

Designs on Doha (FT)
“Muslimah dress restrictions have paved the way for an accessories boom in the Middle East. For affluent young women here, however, designer accessories are not symbolic of money or aspiration but are simply the norm. So they increasingly seek out unfamiliar territory in the form of emerging designers.”

Sitting in the lap of luxury (China Daily)
“While consumers in Japan, the United States and Europe are scrimping on luxury goods, the swelling ranks of big spenders in China are taking in whatever the “haute” houses in Paris or Milan can serve up… Luxury brands feel no constraint in boosting their prices to cover rising costs and foreign exchange losses.”

Designers Revisit Copyright Protection (On the Runway)
“…Five years into a campaign by the Council of Fashion Designers of America to enact some sort of protection for original designs…One of the biggest differences in the new bill is that designers would have to prove that a copy is “substantially identical” to their originals, rather than “substantially similar.”

Canal Street AF1, created to drive counterfeit awareness | Source: Kicks on fire

Copyrighting Fashion: Who Gains? (NY Times)
“Paradoxically, the payoff from free copying has been enormous.  The fashion cycle turns faster, and the industry gets richer – and creates new designs more frequently. So why on earth would anyone want to change that?”

Luxury brands wrest back China market, eye smaller cities (Reuters)
“Many piled into China over the last decade, pairing with re-sellers and joint venture partners, but with so much at stake, they are severing these ties and bringing their own considerable financial and marketing muscle as well as expertise to China.”

Lanvin to Make Clothes for H & M (NY Times)
“Lanvin, one of the oldest Paris fashion houses, announced today that it will do a collection this fall for H & M. People can have their first look at the collection on Nov. 2, in a film that will be shown on hm.com. The clothes will go on sale Nov. 23 in 200 H & M stores worldwide.”

Esprit to Double China Sales After Decline in European Revenue (Business Week)
“Esprit Holdings, the biggest Hong Kong-listed clothier, aims to at least double China sales in the next five years after reporting an 11 percent drop in full-year profit. The stock fell the most in three months.”

Should John Lewis revamp their fashion? (Telegraph)
“The department store has just announced a revamp – the word alone will send a shiver down the spines of its fans – with the aim of becoming genuinely fashionable. Why on earth does Britain’s Favourite Retailer need to get groovy?”

Left: DVF Spring 2009, right: Mercy Spring 2008 | Source: National Post

Today we introduce Legal Patterns, a new series of articles on BoF exploring fashion and the law. Just as design patterns form the foundation of good fashion design, legal frameworks enable fashion businesses to defend their financial interests and protect their designs.

BRUSSELS, Belgium — In the fashion industry, the copycatting of designs is a not a simple issue. Accusations fly in all directions: luxury houses accuse high-street brands; artisans accuse fashion houses; and fashion houses accuse other fashion houses. Indeed, Diane von Furstenberg has found herself on both sides of the issue, submitting copycatted high-street designs by Mango and Forever 21 as legal evidence in court, while herself being accused of copying a jacket designed by the Canadian brand Mercy.

Nor is this a new problem. Since their inception, houses have struggled with fashion espionage. In the past, fashion companies tried to maintain strict control over their intellectual property, not through an assertion of legal rights, but by physically hiding their designs from competitors. In the 1950s, for instance, Christian Dior’s press officer insisted that “all precautions must have been taken to ensure that no member of the profession [e.g. fashion designers, manufacturers, milliners] would be attending” their fashion shows.

Until a few years ago, fashion houses religiously pursued this strategy of strict control. But with the rise of blogging and fast fashion, this approach no longer works. Today’s fashion world is faster and more transparent than ever, blurring the line between what is ‘copying’ and what is ‘inspiration’ and putting new pressure on fashion houses to protect their intellectual property.

Can the law help?

… Continue Reading

Hermès Kelly Bag, courtesy of Hermès

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Sometimes, a mere glimpse of a product’s silhouette is enough to tell which designer or fashion house created it: the Chanel No 5 perfume bottle, the toe of a Berluti shoe, the unique shape of the Fendi baguette. Today, there is renewed interest in these kinds of classic products as shape and design have made a return in making a product desirable, especially now when consumers don’t want their products to scream with logos and bling.

As they look for unbranded products that are recognisable for their design, this also raises the question of whether there is adequate legal protection for these more subtle indications of provenance. This will almost certainly reignite a debate for strong design right protection, but it might also mean that the shape of a product is worthy of trademark protection in and of itself.

… Continue Reading

At what point does referencing and inspiration turn into blatant copying? It’s a question that is increasingly on the minds of designers — particularly young designers and small brands — who don’t have the legal muscle (read: cold hard cash) and time to defend the integrity of their designs.

In other creative disciplines like music, writing and visual art, it is much easier to defend copying. In fashion, referencing, inspiration, and trends form the backbone of our industry (just check out this long list of adventures in fashion copyright). So, where do we draw the line?

Case 1:  Steve Madden
Sometimes it’s quite straightforward to see what is going on.  A post on Manolo’s shoe blog alerted us to this blatant copy of the Balenciaga sportiletto shoe. Some may find it amazing that anyone would even wear these shoes, but I find it amazing that any company would be so brazen as to rip designs off in this way. 

… Continue Reading