Every girl enjoys browsing the net for some online shopping but I’m not one of them as I despise having to send things back if they don’t fit or they end up looking cheap and not as amazing as it did on the website. I’ve never got used to this trend as I more enjoy walking around shops, trying things on and if I’m in a market, haggling lol. Whilst talking to my friend yesterday afternoon about getting some nude pumps, she recommended I go on http://www.boohoo.com…so I then question ‘have you bought shoes from there before?’…she replies ‘no’, which I then burst out laughing and say ‘so why you want me to go on there?’…I get a lot of business through referrals as women have worn my dresses and told their girlfriend about jewel, so why refer me to a site you’ve never used?
Anyway all things happen for a reason…I’ve heard of BOOHOO before and seen their adverts around so I’m guessing their similar to ASOS and may have some nice things so I go on their site. Browsed the shoe section and didn’t see anything I liked, the shoes looked cheap – no, not only because they were priced cheap lol – but they actually looked like you could wear them for a week and the straps would fall off. So as I’m on the site already, I go onto the dresses section, and guess what I come across????? Yup you guessed it a design that looks the same as one of mine!!!! SCREAM, KICK, PUNCH and fall into DEEP LAUGHTER!!!!!
I actually can’t believe it, this dress is a spitting image of the one I made in 2009, same COLOUR, same DESIGN, different MODEL, different WEBSITE!!!
I think this is the reason, small designers like me don’t get far in the fashion world…our ideas are taken by bigger companies and sold for a cheaper price to the mass market – so unfair…why not buy the design off me, why not give me a senior designer job at your company?? Ok, I guess it’s easier for you to just copy as you know I don’t have the time, nor the money to take you to court…boohoo (crying as I type, lol)
On a serious note, this is a serious matter…I do advise people to copyright their designs and ideas. As a designer I know how hard it can be to remember these little things and obviously the cost of copyrighting everything you do is NOT CHEAP!! There should be small business rates for things like this to make it easier for small businesses to protect their ideas.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for being inspired from other designers or people but this is just straight up copying. I have to give it to BOOHOO, they did try to innovate the design by putting a bow at the back of my design aka their dress but still I think the similarity is still TOO MUCH!!
For more info on how to copyright, trademark etc go to the following sites:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/contents
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