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September 7, 2014

Who Owns Fashion?

Introduction

DESCRIPTIONModels walk the runway in Jason Wu’s show on Friday. Casey Kelbaugh for The New York Times

It’s Fashion Week in New York City and insiders and fans alike have flocked to witness the season’s new designs. Many of the “fast fashion” retailers are present as well, ready to manufacture similar styles at a mass-market scale.

But where is the difference between mimicking a trend and theft? Some advocate for better legal protection for original designs. Do fashion designers need better copyright protection?

Giselle Defares, a writer in Amsterdam, suggested this discussion.

Read the Discussion »

Debaters

  • Giselle Defares

    Lines Blur With Inspiration and Theft

    Giselle Defares, writer

    Designers often pull on earlier trends for inspiration. But when does "inspiration" become duplication, the theft of a previous design?

  • Susan Scafidi Narciso Rodriguez

    Designers Need Legal Protection

    Susan Scafidi, Fashion Law Institute and Narciso Rodriguez, Fashion Designer

    Modern technology has made it increasingly difficult for designers to outrun copyists and achieve a sustainable return on creative investments.

  • Kal Raustiala Christopher Sprigman

    Piracy Fuels the Industry

    Kal Raustiala and Christopher Sprigman, Authors, "The Knockoff Economy"

    New York fashion thrives specifically because of piracy. Every time a new design is widely copied, fashion’s most powerful marketing force kicks in: the trend.

  • Guillermo C. Jimenez

    Emulate the European Model

    Guillermo C. Jimenez, Fashion Institute of Technology

    When American designers want to make names for themselves, they travel east to Europe, where they can find strong legal protection for their work.

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