I get to add “designer for Roxy” to my resume. Theoretically that is. They knocked off one of bungalow360’s original designs again. The graphics are not the same but the design of the wallet is identical. I created the wallet years ago when I was still hand making the bags and wallets. It is still sold in our line. This isn’t the first time they have used an original bungalow360 design. They copied a bag a few years ago. These are items that I designed and are very unique in style to our brand and not common in the market place. It doesn’t surprise me. This happens often in the fashion industry. The Ironic thing is when I lived in Laguna Beach I applied at all the surf, skate, lifestyle brands in Orange County including Roxy and no one would hire me. This was before I started bungalow360. I had no experience at the time and would put on my application “I want a creative position like designer or marketing”. Pretty funny to me now. To be a designer in the industry is a very technical position and you really need training. You will need to know how to create spec packages ETC. Unless you’re Roxy then you just need to know how to buy other brand’s products and send it off to their factory. (ouch! ) Eventually I did end up working at a major brand, Mossimo. I was just getting bungalow360 off the ground when I went to work their. Wondering how I got the job at Mossimo? Numerous fails led me to that job. I had just returned from Europe. I had failed at being a groupie of a band. Almost an impossible fail and a story that deserves it’s own blog post. I had quit my restaurant job prior to heading to Europe. On arrival back I went to a temp agency thinking I could do clerical work . The only problem was I failed all the tests. Typing, grammar, spelling all a BIG Fail. The people in charge at the temp agency all huddled and didn’t know what to do with me. I once again proclaimed ”I want to do something creative“. I saw some eyes roll and then said ”I can answer a phone really well”. They all huddled again. Then they handed me paper work and said go to this address for an interview. When I read the words Mossimo I almost screamed.
I wasn’t a full fledged Mossimo stalker at the time but living in Laguna Beach I would see his posse out and about. I was in awe of Mossimo. I started the next day answering the phones. I could not have landed their at a better time. They had just brought in Edwin Lewis who was a major player in the fashion industry. He used to head up Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. Edwin had brought with him the top executives from Tommy Hilfiger . You could spot the executives from Hilfiger by their east coast preppy attire. At the time I had not been to the east coast and had never seen people dress that way. “Moss” was going through tough times and Edwin was brought in to turn the company around. The mood was very tense at the headquarters. Thankfully they had me answering the phones and I was so thrilled to be working their. The phone got answered in a very jubilant manor. I was smack in the middle of everything and settled in very quickly. I was getting side projects dropped on my desk from the designers and executives. I was like a sponge and soaked it all up. They all new I was hand making bags on the side. One day a girl in accounting asked if she could host a bag party. I brought 2 large tubs full and sold out of everything that night. I worked at Mossimo for almost 2 years and eventually quit to launch bungalow360. Shortly after, Moss got the Target deal. He was the first designer to be sold at Target. Everyone thought he was crazy. Not me. I had always loved Target. One day Moss had commented on how he liked my sneakers.I had just purchased them from Target. I told him in my biggest french accent “Tarh-schjayh” He just got a big smile on his face. This is significant because “Moss” didn’t speak to me all that often and he must have been in talks with Target at the time but no one knew. Doing something like that was unheard of at the time. Now every designer wants to be sold at Target. Back to the topic at hand. I can walk into any Target store and pick out the Mossimo item over the other brands without looking at the tags. He has a certain esthetic when it comes to design. Definitely a trend follower but he always added his own style to a trend. I don’t think he would just knock something off without making it his own.
My first launch of bungalow360 didn’t go as planned and I picked up another job while I continued bungalow360 on the side. This time I worked for another apparel company. I am not going to mention their name since they are a major brand now and most likely run their business differently. At the time I worked for them they only did private label. Which means they would make clothes for major fast fashion companies and top brands. We took care of producing the clothes but their label would go on the item. Wet Seal was one of our accounts. Things moved really fast. So fast that no one had time to sit down and design anything. The owner would take trips to Europe and come back with a ton of clothes to be knocked off. Those items would then get shown to companies like Wet Seal and they would pick out what they liked and we would go into production on the items. They use to have amazing sample sales. I sometimes ran the sales and my mouth would drop when I would see the original price of a jacket $800.- and know that we made the same jacket for Wet Seal for $3.-. I worked in the junior dept. at this company and our 3 person team would bring in around 16 million dollars a year for the company. A lot of money being made by doing business this way. Not one designer on staff though.
Getting knocked off happens just as much at the crafter level and in just about every industry. Popular internet sites like Etsy make it very easy for bigger companies to steal ideas and copy product. I learned early on that if you want to stay in business you have to protect your designs. Sometimes not an easy task since in order for your stuff to sell you need to put it out there. I learned many tricks along the way to help me protect my designs.
1: Hire a good copyright attorney. One that can go to trial if necessary. Many copyright lawyers are not trial lawyers. We have had 3 copyright infringement cases and won them all. We use The Doniger Law Firm out of Los Angeles.
2: Copyright your artwork. It cost 35 bucks and you can do it online. Unfortunately design and ideas are not protected under any law in USA at this time. There are trade dress laws but they are more complicated.
3: Don’t put anything online if you don’t want it to get copied. Our website is about 1 year behind what the stores get and I never put new designs or photos up until it has been in stores.
4: Document everything. Even though you don’t take action now, you never know when you may need proof in court . If someone knocked you off buy the item and take photos.
5: Read books on the subject and ask questions. I use to email law professors and people in the fashion industry. Many would reply back with their thoughts and I learned a ton. FYI: many don’t reply back but the ones that did really gave good info. Be sincere when contacting them an make sure your questions are relevent and can’t be answered by googleing.
6: At trade shows don’t let anyone into your booth without asking for business card. I actually cover my booth with walls to look like a bungalow and there is only a tiny door to enter. Makes it intimidating for designers but not store buyers that want to see whats inside. Half the people that attend trade shows are designers scouting for product to copy or sales people which try to sell you something. I also have my wholesale catalogs hidden at trade hows and only give them out to buyers or press.
7: USE GOOGLE: Early on I would get requests for a wholesale catalog. I would ask for store address before sending out a catalog. I would then google the address, half the time the location given was a home not a store. Most likely a designer or branding company wanting info for ideas.
8: Set rules for the people you do business with. Let them know your product line isn’t to be shared with others unless for purpose of sale. Make your factory sign a contract that states they are not aloud to share your designs with other companies.
There is a great website www.youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com for people who have been knocked off. They can go and display alleged knock off in a forum which includes discussion. I don’t think many of the the big corporations understand the power of social media. I have seen big campaigns be brought against big corporations through social media which end with the corporation having to resolve copyright infringement due to such bad PR.
My spelling and grammar hasn’t improved much but I am feeling pretty surfer cool knowing I designed bags for Roxy!
