[imagesource:instagram/beachcult]

Two local designers woke up last week to a flurry of messages from fans about their designs having been stolen by Superbalist.

Loyal customers had brought to their attention that the large e-commerce website was selling a top and pants set that they had “100% copied” from the two local designers – BeachCult and Cara Saven Wall Design, who had collaborated on the designs in a limited edition clothing range.

When we contacted Cara Saven about this, she claimed that “The buyers at Superbalist must have purchased the set and sent it to China to have copied, without so much as requesting a change to the placement of the print.” The result, she noted, were garments that were identical to her collab design with BeachCult, sitting pretty on the Superbalist site – at a mere cost of R299.

Joanna Hedley, who launched BeachCult in 2011, told us she was “deeply shocked” by how blatantly and directly Superbalist had made the knock-off, adding that there is no way a small, sustainably orientated local retailer can compete with that price point.

“It feels like a knock in the teeth”, Joanna said, especially after all that hard work between BeachCult and Cara Sevan to just be condensed into something for as little as R299.

BeachCult and Cara Saven’s followers rallied together to lambaste Superbalist for their blatant shenanigans, with some even calling a boycott against the online shop.

The screenshots, reshares and call-out comments abounded:

Clearly, Superbalist chose the wrong designers to mess with.

Cara Saven Wall Design is a well-known South African Wallpaper brand with over 52,800 Instagram followers. The brand has become a household name with its bespoke wall designs featured in renowned magazines like Fairlady, Visi, and Garden And Home, to name a few.

 

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A post shared by Cara Saven Wall Design (@carasavenwalldesign)

BeachCult has forged a cult following, with over 28,000 doting followers on Instagram who adore the swimwear and summer apparel that often features high-end designer collabs:

 

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A post shared by BeachCult (@beachcultct)

The ‘plagiarised’ garment sold by Superbalist can hardly be labelled a “derivative work” – what is essentially a riff on a core, copyrighted creation – as it is obviously something that a “reasonable observer” would call a copy.

Cara mentioned that even if her works were officially legally protected, she is not switched off to the co-opting of designs and the flow of ideas in the industry. She ultimately recognises that designers may lean on each other’s works to continue the cycle of creation, but that when something is so blatantly and strikingly copied, it is just not okay.

The specialist designer added that Superbalist was essentially ‘eating their cooking in bed’ so to speak. In other words, they are stealing a design from a local designer and then selling a copy straight into the same market. Either approach Beachcult to sell the original design thereby supporting local designers or do a changed-up version of the design if they want to sell at a cheaper price point.

Superbalist did reach out to them, with the CEO, David Cohen, personally apologising and promising to get to the bottom of this. He also apparently offered to look into what they “would have paid” a designer if they were to have sold the original item/print on their website. But Cara says it is not about the money.

“We’re not looking to profit from this. Cara Saven Wall Design didn’t even take money from BeachCult for the collab. Our brand had never done a collab with a fashion brand before and we chose BeachCult because it felt like a brand match. I personally love their products and I wear their clothes. The collab therefore felt authentic.”

“My concern is that Beachcult and Cara Saven Wall Design are well-known and loved SA brands – in fact it was our clients that alluded us to what Superbalist had done. How many smaller guys out there are having their prints taken by large retailers and can’t really fight back?”

The dupes have consequently been taken off of the Superbalist website, with everyone in the design team likely walking on eggshells right now.

But one has to ask, how many other local designers might have their identical designs sitting on the Superbalist website, who are conveniently lining their corporate pockets in the name of fast fashion?

It’s a tale almost as old as our times; that bigger, more corporate fashion retailers use the work of smaller, local makers and creators to sell for a profit, without any compensation or acknowledgement of the sort.

Dispatch Live has a list of the times Woolworths – yes, even our beloved Woolies – has been caught infringing on the copyright of smaller, local designers.

In 2011, Woolworths was accused of copying the soda names, as well as packaging, from a small business called Frankie’s. Then, in 2013, designer Euodia Roets revealed on her blog that Woolworths had copied one of her designs, adapted it and printed it on cushions. One of the bigger cases involved Shannon McLaughlin, who accused Woolworths of copying her baby carrier designs and using her name on their version of the carriers, which were on sale in-store and online.

This is also not the first rodeo for Superbalist. The online retailer has been accused of stealing scores of designs from artists and creative types in the past, particularly after Karmen Wessels found a copy of a mug design from British artist Gemma Correll being sold on its website. You can read more about that here.

Vox noted how all over the world, fashion brands steal design ideas, and get away with it, all the time.

The point is, that big retailers should not be pulling these tactics – taking what is not theirs and blatantly making money from it – on anyone, in any shape or form.

Smaller, local designers might have less footing to fight back, but at least they’re sticking to their lane, ethically interacting with their fellow creators, and putting themselves out there with integrity.

Now, it is up to you, as a consumer, to make an informed choice.

[source:socialmedia/supplied]