Another day, another dollar.
That's how Zara's response sounded to an independent artist who recently claimed the Spanish brand copied her designs.
The artist, Los Angeles-based Tuesday Bassen, recently posted a screen grab accusing the international retailer of stealing her original pieces.
"Over the past year, [Zara] has been copying my artwork (thanks to all that have tipped me off — it's been a lot of you)," she wrote on her Instagram account. "I had my lawyer contact Zara, and they literally said I have no [case] because I'm an indie artist and they're a major corporation and that not enough people even know about me for it to matter."
The brand allegedly wrote back to Bassen's lawyers that there was a "lack of distinctiveness" in the claims and how a "significant part of the population anywhere in the world" would not recognize the art pieces as her work.
From the Instagram post, it's obvious that both Bassen and Zara's designs are very similar to each other.
This isn't too surprising. In the past, we've written about how American designers have little to no protection over their original works. And as much as brands take measures to copyright their designs, they are virtually powerless to stop fast-fashion giants like H&M, Topshop and Forever 21 from copying them.
At this point, brands can only use social media shaming as a means to seek justice, said Susan Scifidi, the director at the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law, to Mashable.
"That works for companies that can be shamed, and has continued to work," she said.
In this case, it looks like the shaming was successful.
In a statement to Mashable, the brand's parent company, Inditex, said it would suspend any sale of the items:
Inditex has the utmost respect for the individual creativity of all artists and designers and takes all claims concerning third party intellectual property rights very seriously. Inditex was recently contacted by Tuesday Bassen’s lawyers who noted the use of illustrations in some badges sourced externally and on clothes in its Group stores. The Company immediately opened an investigation into the matter and suspended the relevant items from sale. Inditex’s legal team is also in contact with Tuesday Bassen’s lawyers to clarify and resolve the situation as swiftly as possible.
But it might be a little too late for Zara, as bloggers and other designers have taken to Twitter to lambast the brand.
While disappointing, perhaps big retailers – including Zara – will learn from their mistakes and begin to respect young and independent artists.
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