PLAGIARISM IN FASHION INDUSTRY

MBABANE - Does the fashion industry have a plagiarism problem?

Envisage this, you walk into a room full of well-dressed people and suddenly you spot one that has a similar outfit as you. You walk over to complement them and during that chitchat, they reveal that they bought their outfit somewhere different than where you bought yours and it was a few Emalangeni cheaper. Stunned right? All that E2 000 you had to pay to look sophisticatedly gorgeous for someone to look exactly like you but having paid E800? How? Some fashion brands have a notorious reputation for stealing designs from other creatives and designers. Fast fashion brands and celebrities have been frequently accused of profiting from designs that they’ve copied from other creatives. Designs continue to be stolen unless trademarked by the designer, but this poses problems when many are unable to access lawyers and the funds needed to get this trademark. Until these independent designers are able to pursue trademarks over their designs, theft will continue. A common line of questioning that routinely follows from the more egregious instances of copying centres on legality, how is this sort of thing legal?

Protects

Copyright law, the type of intellectual property law that protects “original works of authorship,” such as books, paintings, photographs, and song lyrics, does not protect useful things, like clothing and accessories  which have useful properties  as a whole, it generally provides a relatively small amount of protection for those things in their entirety to date compared to the protection it provides. While copyright law is unwilling to provide a monopoly for useful things, it does protect elements of useful articles. This means that creative elements of a design that can be separated from the functional elements are subject to protection. This is why elements of a garment, such as a print that covers it, may be protected (as Pictorial, Graphic or Sculptural work), but the design of the dress, itself, is not covered by such protections. It is worth noting that in light of this, Eswatini is one of the countries that do not have these laws in place yet where creatives’ work is protected.

“I am sort of used to the fact that once I come up with a certain kind of design, I will see everyone else jumping in on it but it’s better when its remixed or a different material is used, but to copy the entire thing, it’s just crazy” said one local designer who preferred to stay anonymous. She further went on to say that what then helps her is her clients telling her that even if the design might be plagiarised, there’s still something outstanding with her work. “I usually get told that my work is different, that the way I do my garment stitching is different and neat and that comforts me as my clients are mostly drawn to my work because of the finer details I put in on a design.”

Fashion

Speaking to Arts and Culture CEO Stanley Dlamini he said they were aware of ‘copycats: in the fashion industry’. “They quickly become the bane of your existence. You’ve worked hard to create a brand and style that is uniquely your own. Unfortunately, when copycats crop up, they can make your designs appear less exclusive not to mention the fact that someone else is profiting off of the designs you spent so much time and effort creating. Intellectual theft happens and in this case, imitation is not the highest form of flattery! Unfortunately we still do not have laws that can protect someone’s work yet” Dlamini said. Dlamini said he was supportive of the idea where local creatives want to protect their original work , however, he advised that they should not limit themselves when it comes to coming up with work as the industry is big enough for anyone interested in the fashion sector.

“At the end of the day, people want a  variety of things and they are willing to pay for those services, why then would you want to deprive yourself of that opportunity to deliver?” said Dlamini. On the other hand, some fashion fanatics think some fashion designers are just being ‘dramatic.’ “I think the issue here is we should understand the difference between a fashion designer, tailor, seamstress and dress maker. How many fashion designers do we have in the country?” said Vukile Shongwe who said she prefers her clothes tailor-made. She went on to say; “Just because some professions share a similar or even identical objective, they can’t be called the exact same thing. Doctors and nurses both exist in order to help their patients but even so, they’re doing very different kinds of work for that purpose. Architects and construction workers also have the same goal which is to build a certain structure yet they too conduct two entirely different activities that lead to reaching that goal. What I’m trying to say here is that a tailor and a seamstress, or a dressmaker and a fashion designer really aren’t the same thing. Despite them being very similar, they’re in fact whole separate types of professions.”

Shongwe said that she usually sees something she likes online and keeps a screenshot of it for her to ask her seamstress to make something similar for her. “I’m usually the one who tells my seamstress what I want and how I want it, that does not then make her a copycat,” said Shongwe. According to hello sewing, a tailor is a person who does most of customisation and reparation work in the field of sewing. If one needs some modifications or alterations done on your clothing pieces, this is the person fit to do it. Tailors can fix shirts, pants, jackets, but also some more formal types of wardrobe pieces like suits or dresses. From changing the hemline or waistline to patching up the tears or cuts, they provide you with various small to medium intervention sewing services. On the other hand, a seamstress too, does alteration or reparation work but she, or he, is able to create clothing pieces from scratch. You can come to them and request a shirt, jacket, skirt or any other thing you saw in a magazine or on television. Show them the desired product and they’ll be able to provide you with an almost identical version of it.

Adjustments

On top of this, a seamstress also makes some more complex adjustments like adding zippers or buttons and so on. To put it short, they are the jack of all trades when it comes to sewing. And lastly, a dress maker and fashion designer are extremely high level sewing enthusiasts or fashion lovers if you prefer. However, one big difference is obvious. A dressmaker creates dresses which already exist as an idea. Whoever comes to them shows them an image of a dress and they recreate it as closely as possible to the original. This way, the designing part is skipped. A fashion designer on the other hand, literally creates a garment from nothing. He imagines a concept first, then draws it out on a paper, then he changes whatever doesn’t suits the original idea and only after all that has finished, the sewing can begin. Bottom line, dressmaker doesn’t design, just sews, while a fashion designer does everything from the beginning to the end. Yes, some modern designers only draw their creations and skip the sewing process but the majority of fashion designers do all of the work as they’re supposed to.

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