a lil bit of thievery

brand positioning: the place a product occupies in the mind of the consumer that both defines the brand and differentiates it from others.

certain fashion brands, namely

u r b a n o u t f i t t e r s & a n t h r o p o l o g y

have positioned themselves, or set themselves apart, as being fashion forward and unique. they are chains that have more of a boutique feel than the large department stores. you can imagine my shock when i learned this week that these VERY stores shamelessly and repeatedly rip off the designs of working artists.

my dearest friends Heather and Heidi Palmer are entrepreneurial spirits to the very core. they've been developing businesses since they could walk... literally! their latest venture is True Birds. These glammed-up accessories have donned the pages of the hottest fashion mags out there and have been picked up by some major stores including N O R D S T R O M and F R E D S E G A L!! But they're always looking for more... so they sent look books and physical samples to both of the aforementioned stores (the mean ones!). months later, the boxes returned with very few samples and NO look book. hmmmm, interesting.

so, last weekend i was looking for the perfect shawl/cardigan/unique piece to pair with a black sundress. naturally, one of the first places i thought to go was the aforementioned a store. while there, i was looking at their accessories (a guilty pleasure, i know) and i saw a bunch of pieces that looked almost exactly like True Birds pieces. so much so, in fact, that i picked up the head bands and looked for the brand tag... nope, not TB. now, just to be clear- this was not one similar styles- it was SEVERAL.

now, sunday night i'm gabbing with hp (read: heather) and she told me about how she was looking on certain stores' web sites and they were featuring literally almost exact replicas of the birds' designs. then i told her of the rest of the designs that i had seen during my jaunt at the mean store... and the fight was on.

ya know, it's just sad that a store that has set itself apart for originality hides behind the corporate face while two real and personal designers put their face on their designs and make it personal. i'm mad. designs belong to the designers and their kitchen table, late night sewing sessions. how do you fight the giant?

anyone know erin brockovich?