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Fashion Design Piracy Essay

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One of the biggest driving forces in the fashion industry nowadays is the continuous introduction of new trends and the opportunity for designers to display their creativity. So, when that individuality is stolen or copied from a designer, it can produce uneasy consequences. Known as “design piracy”, this widespread reproduction of designs has actually been around for decades. Not much has been done at a federal level to prevent the moral and economic repercussions that stem from it. However, despite the fact that designers lose both independent recognition and profit for their work, in the long run, fashion piracy actually helps grow the industry by swiftly moving styles through society to make way for the next line of innovative…show more content…
Typically, these factories are located outside of the United States, and with cheap and readily available labor, the knockoff designs can be created in a matter of hours and shipped to stores months before the original version. These companies are able to replicate the original designs almost perfectly, and for much less money, as well. In turn, chain retailers like Bloomingdale’s, Urban Outfitters, and Forever 21 then purchase hundreds of these clothes and promptly sell them to consumers way before the original designs even have a chance to make their debut (Wilson). The biggest problem with this is that fashion design is an art form in itself, and with duplicates, the creative and original credit of the designers are lost. American consumers can no longer tell what garments in a store are original and which have been duplicated (“Stop Fashion Design Piracy”). From a moral perspective, this is essentially burying the recognition that independent designers deserve for their work.
In addition, the widespread financial gap between the costs of production of originals and knockoffs causes design piracy to have some economic ramifications. Because the knockoff designs are manufactured at lower costs, they tend to sell for much less; for example, a replicate might sell for up to one-third the price of the original design (Wilson). This lowered price, combined with the fact that the copied design would hit store shelves first, causes consumers to deviate more
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