and they don't do anything for me. The blurry picture is a copy of my brooch sold in topshop stores, the one underneath is my original.DCK Concessions (the company that sells the accessories in topshop stores) claim that they bought the brooches in Hong Kong and were unaware that they were copies of my design. I wonder if they also bought these made by white copies from the same HK market....
Apparently there are copies of the horse out there too
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I'm very sorry to hear this! Your brooch is a jewel if that makes you feel any better.
ReplyDeleteDid you have any progress with the issue? Please update me if you wish and i'll make sure to spread the word.
Many thanks for commenting in my blog, i wish you all the best!
Bear hugs,
Hidden Eloise xx
Seriously, Top Shop are the worst. Argh.
ReplyDelete100% irked! I have always admired your items so it really annoys me they have done this! And the excuse of 'we didn't know' is total horseshit. I've written to DCK to tell them I'm unhappy about it and put it up on my twitter page. At least we have people power!
ReplyDeleteMy blood is boiling for you.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me so mad - I want to chop off their "ctrlC & ctrlV" fingers!
How terribly gut wrenching for you. If it's any consolation (which it probably won't be) I think your designs are amazing and unique. The copy is a poor replica.
ReplyDeleteSam
this is so so sad.
ReplyDeleteevery week there is more and more of it happening, so not good enough.
its a blatant copy :( im sorry its happening to u.
xx
That is just shocking, they haven't even tried to change it in any way. Can you go to the papers about this? Spread the news, let everyone know. This just cannot go on. I'm so sorry for you.
ReplyDeleteExcuse my language, but as friends of MbW too, they are complete fuckers. I hate that original design can be ripped off without care. Stupid.
ReplyDeleteThis is scary - I make acrylic jewellery and recently have had some visits from Hong Kong on my online store... I did wonder if someone in HK copies designs and then sells them on. It's my worst nightmare (from my business perspective at least) and I hope you can get Topshop to retract their products! Good luck. xx
ReplyDeleteShame on them !!! I hate copycats !!!
ReplyDeleteI'm really sorry about this- the big companies that are getting accused of all this kind of thing make me very angry and I do try to buy through etsy etc now. Why they can't approach designers and work with them instead of against I neither know nor understand
ReplyDeleteDCK pride themselves on being able to get a design into the stores within a week of originally seeing it. they do not 'buy in', everything is designed in uk and manufactured in china.
ReplyDeleteso sorry to hear about this happening to you, but over 70% are copies of other designers.
i was offered a job there and was shocked at their work ethic. needless to say, do not work there anymore.
Hello Simon, stumbled across this page from a LLROK retweet. I am really shocked (not surprised unfortunately, due to all these cases gaining notice on twitter) but I bought the wolf and horse brooches a few years ago from Topshop. I have a photo of the horse brooch online in my livejournal, if you want to see? I had to show everyone as I was so excited about owning them as I thought they were so striking and reminded me of reading Russian fairy tales when I was little.
ReplyDeleteI love the stunning design of them but of course I can see that your originals are way better and I will browse your shop now to see what else I can buy.
Gutted to say that I actually bought this brooch from Topshop :( I really hope they've been paying attention to the recent Paperchase fiasco and realise that they need to deal with this promptly, and that you get the compensation you deserve.
ReplyDeleteMy sympathies for you situation. I can only see this problem getting worse and worse. I think your case and the Paperchase case are mere tips of the iceberg. Lets be honest Eloise is very fortunate that her story came to light. I wonder how many other people have had their work ripped off. I bet its thousands. As a photographer, we've lived for years with the magazine and newspaper industry re-using our work without paying us more money. Nowadays, they just get you to sign your life away as soon as they book you. Now they don't even book you as they just want free content that they can grab off the web.
ReplyDeletehttp://copyrightaction.com/forum/uk-gov-nationalises-orphans-and-bans-non-consensual-photography-in-public
When this new law comes into effect in a few weeks time. Its almost a final goodbye for photography as a money earner. Free pictures - use what you want - nobody will care. The internets a wonderful thing - but it really has helped screw the creatives of this world.
Paul
DCK Concessions? Is that short for DICK? What assholes!
ReplyDeleteI watched the "Man Shops World" series about the guy who shops for Anthropologie and found it very entertaining and also troubling, because they buy up things and then copy them, too. I don't know how or if they compensate the original makers.
It is really discouraging to the artist who labors to be uniquely creative when this kind of plagiarism is rampant.
To add insult to injury, they did such a BAD job even trying to copy you.
ReplyDeleteDear Simon,
ReplyDeleteI just emailed Topshop about your case but I just found a comment of yours here http://www.madebywhite.com/blog/2010/01/topshop-ripoff-they-have-copied-our-brooch/
You say there that you have actually taken legal action against them?
Please let us all know what happened because I think I just took action before knowing the whole story and it may not come to good.
Bear hugs,
Hidden Eloise
This sucks. I'm sorry that happened to you.
ReplyDeleteI do think the responsibility starts with us as a craft/design community. Blogged about because your case, and all the similar ones I've seen lately, got me to thinking.
Copying is becoming rampant, and it's making me furious! Top Shop should be seriously taken to account for this crappy rip off. I can almost always pick an original, but unfortunately alot of customers wouldn't be able to.
ReplyDeleteI really hope for one Top Shop stops selling this copy, and two, you get some compensation,(or at least a sorry we will never do this again!)
Topshop are notorious for this - it is shocking!! Consumers need to be educated !
ReplyDeleteIt's so awful.
ReplyDeleteI think Topshop would be a much cooler place if they would commission British talent and credit them on the items, intstead of buying cheaply from HongKong. Same goes for Paperchase & all those brands.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
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