As I was trying on this blouse in the shop there was something eerily familiar about it. I couldn't make out what it was but had a hunch on my way home. I scoured my saved pictures when I got home and indeed there it was:
This blouse was sold at ModCloth a couple of weeks ago but is no longer available on their site. It is the exact same blouse: the same ruching under the bust, the same tie collar, the same sleeves. Except for the fabric these blouses are identical. And guess what else I found on ModCloth sold at $41.99:
And here is what H&M currently have in their stores for €24.95:
If that is not a copy I don't know what is. Sure, all the shops these days sell roughly the same: some ruffles here, some bows there, empire waists, skinny jeans, etc. but this is not just the same fashion inspiration. These two blouses are identical. Yes, and I think I found even more copies, only I cannot present any photographic evidence at the moment since neither of the shops are currently selling these items online. Still, what is going on? Is this normal? Who is designing this stuff? I am confused. Answers?
Oooouh, another reason for me to boycot H&M (the other one is the conditions in the factories that produce clothes for them).
ReplyDeleteBut I do know they have their own designers. I once sat next to one of them during a 5 hour busride on the way home from our summer-house (=cottage).
And I once bought a top at H&M that I found under another brand-name in another shop (a more expensive one!) about a year later. Even the print was identical.
I think they sometimes buy things from the same factories, designed by someone else. I've found the same thing with shoes, with brands that are in the same segment price-wise.
It's a weird weird world...
Oh, but the ones you show do look like rip-offs... forgot to write that!
ReplyDeleteA lot of chain stores use the same manufacturers, who simply put a different label in the clothing. For example, some flannel shirts sold by LL Bean can be bought for less at Sears under their label.
ReplyDeleteSome years ago I took pattern making courses and at some point asked my teacher why he had decided to go into teaching. He explained that he had become so disillusioned by the industry. He had thought that he was going to make patterns, but all he ever did was to buy clothes in shops, take it apart and copy the patterns. He said that that was the way most of the companies worked, even some of the more expensive companies which he had thought made their own designs. At some point, he had changed a detail in a pattern he was copying, just to add something - the next year he saw a copy somebody had made of his copy with the altered detail...
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting these pictures of simple blouses. I will now copy them myself for my summer wardrobe in November!
ReplyDeleteThat's shocking!
ReplyDeleteWell, I suppose it's not really shocking that they rip off ideas, but that they do it so blatantly. It's like that movie Freaky Friday and all those other films like 13 Going on 30, 17 Again... the list goes on.
Lately I found out that a copyright for designs doesn´t exist. Legaly you can copy everything in fashion-industrie - apart from the label or label-like parts (the stripes of adidas for example).
ReplyDeleteI´ve got an article about it, but I misplaced it, sorry ...
Modcloth also has a whole heap of designer rip offs. They all do it.
ReplyDelete