There are so many styles of art and techniques used to paint that, there are no paints that are alike. Well almost. You have so many styles to choose from Expressionism, Abstract, Realism, Cubism, Surrealism, and so many more. There are artists like Van Gogh who had their own style, and helped to influence other artists to use the techniques that he used. This concept goes hand in hand with fashion and merchandise being designed. With the increase of technology and mixed media there are so many big companies that copy designs of small artists with no repercussions or a small slap on the wrist.
Many of these smaller artists do not have the money or resources to fight these bigger companies, and if they do they don’t have a case to fight them with. For example In 2013 there was a designer Jeremy Scott who debuted his Autumn and Winter collection at New York fashion week with pieces that were “gloriously whackadoo,” with “everything from furious cartoon-face prints to bubblegum-colored camo.”(Kaplan 2016). There were huge similarities between famous surf and skateboard artist Jimbo Phillips who was known for his work of very similar colorful faces and designs on boards. Lucky for Jimbo, social media blew u[p his case, and they eventually ended up settling the course case for an undisclosed amount of money. Phillip said “ his emotions progressed from initial shock, to anger, to disappointment (“It could have been legit and could have been a cool thing” (Kaplan 2016). These cases are not always the case.
Shien is big in the fast fashion industry and well known for copying smaller artists, and getting away with it. Other artists like Jay Baron, Krista Perry, and Larissa Martinez all had Shein make direct copies of their work without their knowledge and use “larger pattern of unethical business practices, including decimating the environment, fostering unsafe working conditions and avoiding paying taxes” (Archie 2023). Perry is a designer who copyrighted and made the graphic design with the words “ make it fun” on a pink background, and when she caught Shein he offered her $500. She rejected that. Baron goes on to talk about his embroidery name tag-style patch that says “Hello I’m Trying My Best”, along with Martinez’s overalls with orange daisies. Other artists have also claimed that they have stolen designs of pins, earrings, and other jewelry with other repercussions. While this case has not been settled yet, with big companies like this they make it hard to pin down a defendant, but also clothes are deemed as “a utility item, and therefore does not have as many protections”, making it even harder to get any compensation for these smaller artists.
Another example of creative work being ripped off by a big business is Bobby Rubio’s “Bolt Hero”, which was stolen without permission by the Los Angeles Chargers, and was added as the background to a football card of their quarterback Justin Herbert. According to Laura Hemann, a professor at William & Mary Law School who specializes in intellectual property law “as soon as an original work becomes”fixed — written, drawn or otherwise recorded — it is protected by copyright” (Stevens 2023). When the company that created the card reached out to Rubio after he posted the tweet they offered him a nominal rate, and the creation of future cards. His lawyers advised him to take the deal because of how easy it is for the companies to get away with stealing a design and profiting larger on it because of the nature of the law. He later found his designs were being printed on T-shirts without his permission, by a smaller artist, but all he got was an apology.
Regardless of the medium, smaller artists are still being ripped off by their creative designs by bigger and more popular people and companies. While they do not always get away with it they largely profit off of work that does not belong to them, even if they have to pay a small sum. Excluding the monetary scam, there is the stunting of creativity on the part of these companies that are copying smaller artists, which leads to lack of originality and individualism. Through these many examples and even smaller prints of famous paintings like The Mona Lisa and A Starry Night being sold on T-shirts through third party websites like Ebay and Etsy, without permission or regard to the original artists. These designs are culprits of trends, and the exploitation of public artwork that people can copy and paste. The lack of accountability has allowed for smaller and local artists to be taken advantage of, while promoting others who stole their work.
Hello,
This post raised a lot of questions about what should and shouldn’t be allowed when it comes to making clothing using other people’s artworks. From your post, I gathered that you believe all copying of artwork for clothing is wrong and I agree with you. It is not fair to the smaller artists who are the original thinkers of the design to make less money off of their designs. Something you mentioned that I want to talk about more is about how famous paintings like Sunflowers or art by Monet have been printed onto t-shirts and sold on places like Etsy or in museums. I do think that it is bizarre that it is so easy for anybody to just plaster Monet’s artwork on a t-shirt and make money off of it but I do think it is different from larger companies taking smaller companies designs. I think this because the artwork being put on t-shirts is so famous that everyone knows it is not the design of the seller, it is artwork done by Monet or Picasso. To add on, this may even help continue the legacy of these famous artworks and artists. However, I do completely agree that stealing the artwork from smaller artists and selling it on a large clothing website like Shein is extremely exploitative and wrong.