Fashion Outcast

"Etiquette are for those without manners, in the same way as fashion is for those without style." - Coco Chanel


Maybe, it's just the end-consumer ideas, but it is not very funny when in an answer to these fashion forum questions:

1. Do you knowingly own any knock-off designer items?
2. Would you purchase knock-off desginer items?
3. Do you think it is morally right to own counterfit items?
4. Do you think it is morally right to sell counterfit itmes?
5. Do you think that knock-off items lower the value/class of authentic designer items?
6. Do you think it is tacky to wear counterfit items?

that is ...

(We're talking about "counterfeit" by the way..."

First off, designs todays are hardly original. But more popular and bully labels want to own everything. So, even if they copy a less popular design, and brand it as their own, you would not know which is the counterfeit, right?

So, I guess, blatant counterfeits would level up the playing field. Hooray for China's low priced items...


--- I'd get

RANTS BELOW:

Has to be the biggest load of s*** I've heard in a while, further proof of the ignorance that contributes to the offshore market and further drives up the prices of originals... Sure hooray for China, just keep that in mind when it's your job, product(s) or industry for that matter.

and another:

Damn....you need to check yourself. Counterfeits are made generally in a sweatshop environment and ruin the market. Maybe you need to go do alittle online research before you get flamed.
--
of which I rant back:

It also only means one thing, you only base your knowledge with HYPE and only those WHO CAN AFFORD IT can hype.

Who does not rely on China when it comes to manufacturing nowadays? learn the "a" in your fashion.

and

Online information and SYSTEMATIC STUDIES aren't the only REAL and TRUE information.

Loads of original designs from lesser known artists were copied since barter was the trade of the day. It only happened that BRANDING and MARKETING is a western expertise and copyright laws followed. But if you check on world history, you'd really say you're lucky you're on the other end of the spectrum...
---------
It's a positive phenomenon that globalisation has brought a lot of things on equal ground... no need to rent a poshy space in a mall, have a marketing or distributor arm, an advertising arm, underpaid sales ladies, and a hell lot of other hype-building arsenal in order to show one prospective consumer your product.

It is, however, be noted that "branding" has taken on a level that traders have relied solely in order to conquer a market, since Procter and Gamble made it. So much so, that even today, while China (and other third-world economies) almost produce everything under the sun, with or without the quality attached to brands, many "brands" own the "copyright" even for stuffs like silk or batik garments produced for centuries are now marked your famous designer labels.

Where do we divide the lines?

There is no line to be divided. Who gets to the International Intellectual Property Rights first (or are capable of doing it) or whatever it is that safeguards copyrights, own all they can patent.

It is like history repeating itself once again. Why do we even need to register to a damned IIPR office we don't even know exist just for doing the things we like and we have been doing since hell was created? Okay, for a cooler head now, traditions are being taken away from the hands of those who had been practicing it for centuries and, we busy ourselves with paperworks, like, intellectual property and copyright laws.

Another one, no one is above the law... and ignorance of the law is not an excuse... blah, blah, blah. Did I hear someone say f*#k the law? Ugh, excuse that dork. I mean, my real problem is, I have been wearing un-labeled, and probably without tariff (yay, don't even know what "t" means, only heard it on a WTO news) India-woven & designed clothes for decades now and these were not actually replicated with mass-produced ones (yet). And later on, I'd see them with --- say a brand, sky-high price, and ... nevermind...

These handcrafted items are definitely on ebay and other Indian fashion sites now with London offices and all that.