Indian fashion industry ups the ante against rampant plagiarism
Teeming with pictures of her cuddling a kitty, getting drenched in the rain, jumping in the air and showing her fresh collection, the Facebook page of fashion designer Nida Mahmood is delicious. But a couple of weeks ago, the 37-year-old posted a dour Facebook status, accusing a leading retail chain of stealing her designs.
“Recently, when I was doing some window shopping at an airport, I stumbled upon the exact replica of my design with just heightened colours. Instead of a dress, this was a kurta,” Mahmood told THE WEEK. The design in question was part of her Junglee Billee collection that was displayed nearly two years ago.
“On sending a legal notice to them, they shamelessly sent back 10 pages stating that I forfeit my own design if I have used it for a certain period of time and have used it a certain number of times,” an outraged Mahmood wrote on her Facebook wall. “After my legal notice they didn’t have the [guts] to sell the style so all the pieces have been retracted from all the stores in A and B towns and also from their website.”
Mahmood's case is not an exception. The debate over design appropriation and intellectual property is a constant issue in the fashion industry globally. And, the Indian design fraternity is no different, with several instances of designers imitating in the name of ‘inspiration’.
This story is from the July 16, 2017 edition of THE WEEK.
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This story is from the July 16, 2017 edition of THE WEEK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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