Knock-offs have been in the news a lot lately. The Bloomberg administration is weighing putting a $1,000 fine on buying counterfeit handbags. Zara’s Spring collection had some bloggers doing a double-take at its striking resemblance to Prada and Celine.
Meanwhile in the home furnishings world, J. Crew stands accused of ripping off a Tony Duquette design for a sweater. And Restoration Hardware faces accusations it copied antiques without proper attribution. But unlike the fashion industry, the design community hasn’t been in an uproar about fakes and knockoffs. No shelter or design publication runs an awareness campaign about knockoff home furnishings like Bazaar’s campaign against fake fashion accessories. Few furnishings designers engage in high-profile lawsuits to stop copies, as Tiffany, Louis Vuitton and Kate Spade have.
Knockoffs cost less for a reason: they are often poorly made, unimaginative products that prey on people’s bargain-hunting instincts. But the real prices of so-called bargain products are high: financial hits to the home furnishings industry, reputational damage to creators of original designs and loss of creative incentive among designers.
Despite the efforts of a few dedicated groups and individuals, including Emeco, The Eames Office, M2L and the now-defunct Foundation for Design Integrity, the knockoff issue never gains much traction in the home furnishings industry.
Why is there such silence from the design community? Do knockoffs cause real problems for product designers and artisans, or do copies just make good design available to a wider audience?
What do you think?
Image courtesy Unbeige.
