Fashion Crimes

In the fashion industry, imitation may not be the sincerest form of flattery.

To some designers, it’s a breach of intellectual property and profit loss.

To others, it’s an inevitable reality in an industry where there are only so many ways to construct a product.

For the rest of us, it takes up a considerable amount of space in our closets, even if we don’t know it.

Last week, the California Fashion Association met to discuss the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, a bill that would provide protection to fashion designer’s original ideas for up to three years after production. The DPPA, also known as H.R. 2196, was never debated after its introduction, but it may have another chance at becoming a law.

According to a recent Boston Globe article, Senator Charles Schumer of New York is drafting a new version of the bill with help from an assistant professor of law at Harvard Law School, Jeannie Suk, who co-authored a Stanford Law Review article on fashion copyright infringement.

Designers such as Diane Von Furstenberg, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, believe it will put an end to the cheap, quick manufacturing of knock-offs that capitalize on the creativity of major designers. Von Furstenberg’s organization has given full support to the bill, as has world-renowned designer Anna Sui.

What does this mean to you? Say goodbye to Forever 21, H&M, Zara and the U.K.’s Primark, all of which are known for stocking trendy designer look-alikes at dirt-cheap prices. These retailers manufacture items fast and inexpensively, and though the quality of their merchandise might suffer, they can still emulate work from high-end designers.

Whether or not this bill will pass is questionable, as there are several reasons why it may cause more trouble than the cropped leather jacket from Primark in my closet right now. The most puzzling aspect of the bill is defining what dictates an infraction of intellectual property in fashion, or how similar can one garment be to another until it becomes “too similar.” Using the same color, fabric or cut could possibly be considered copyright infringement, but the bill doesn’t lay out explicit criteria on how to determine this.

Also, the Boston Globe article points out that small labels may not have the money to enter a legal battle if one of their designs are ripped off. So although major labels are the ones pushing for this bill, it’s emerging designers that will really feel the impact.

The three-year grace period also raises several questions, as some trends often reach retirement by this point, either from their sheer impracticality or seasonal change. Does this mean Elle and Vogue will have to include even more advertisements in their publications to make up for the lack of trends to report?

It will be interesting to see how the DPPA will affect the fashion industry, even if it doesn’t pass. At least it fuels an interesting debate on creative ownership.

If it does become a law, designers might have to answer to the real fashion police.