...and something on the window caught my eye.
The next day, I was inside the fitting room, alone with two objects of desire and one object of controversy.
The two dresses were quite wonderful...
but the actual objective of my visit was to see the top from the window, up-close.
You see, I had a serious case of deja-vu...
You might remember my beloved Pull & Bear smiley faces scarf. Here's a picture of me wearing it in Venice back in November:
I had originally bought it in October of 2007. I have to admit, I wouldn't remember that information exactly if it wasn't for the tag.
Anyway, here's the pattern of my scarf:
And here's the pattern on the Badila top:
I was quite puzzled, but didn't want to jump into hurried assumptions, so I decided to ask someone who might know how to explain this better than me. Good thing I did, because it turns out this obvious copying of prints couldn't possibly be Badila's fault. You see, Badila is a small Greek business, that simply doesn't produce enough clothes to be able to afford printing its own patterned fabrics. Instead, they get them already printed from fabric factories that cater for clothes companies like Badila, producing new fabrics every season, according to the most popular fashion trends. Well, I guess some lazy designer in that factory thought no-one would notice if he got "inspired" by an old scarf. Guess what pal, we did!
I wonder what is Badila's view on this matter. Would they have chosen this fabric, had they known it was copied from another company's garment? One that sells lots in Greece, nonetheless?
15 comments:
xa! ki egw to foulari sou skefthka(kai ena antistoixo diko mou, pou agorasa apo to zara fetos to xeimwna) molis eida ayto to mplouzaki!
ta fetina foremata tou badila einai poly poly omorfa (klaps, prepei na kanw oikonomia!)
I see no foul play here.
Someone produces fabric X. One designer buys it this year, another designer buys it the next.
Doesn't have to be a copycat, it might just be the same person.
The fabric isn't the same, only the pattern. And I believe it couldn't be by the same designer... For starters the pattern has some slight differences between the two garments, which indicates that someone copied it by tracing it, and decided to make slight changes or was simply too lazy to make a perfect copy. If the graphic designer had in fact sold the pattern to a company in order for it to be reprinted, he/she would have provided them with the prototype and the two patterns would be identical.
Plus, INDITEX, which owns Pull&Bear, produces its own fabrics, and I'm positive such a colossal company doesn't sell its patterns to other companies after a couple of seasons.
Badila...early nineties sweet memories! I have to agree with Not Your Man on this one. It is purely a production issue.Greek companies cannot afford to design their own fabrics so they buy. Not only Greek companies do that, but any manufacturer who sells to a small audience. Otherwise it's WAY too expensive.
I can assure you that all Greek companies at the moment are buying their fabrics from the same 2 or 3 importers. This clone phenomenon has been around for years. Maybe if we bought more clothing made in Greece they would then be able to pay for exclusive prints...
Alecca: Exactly my point! Only, Pull & Bear isn't a small company, so the scarf was - most probably - an exclusive print made for their use only... And someone from the fabric factory, that supplies Badila, copied it.
Lopi I enjoyed so much your today's post with the mystery around the scarf!!!!! so nice!!!with all your knowledge and deja-vu cases, maybe you can be a fashion detective!!
hehe, the post I was expecting!!!
Lopi Lopi, forget the discounts in that store FOREVAAAAH, get ready to feel their anger!!! :p :p
I am with Pull&Bear! So many neutral patterns , they decided to reproduce the cartoony one?
If Inditex "copies" famous designers, and Greek companies copy Inditex, why to purchase the copy of the copy...!!!
...I do own many badila clothes though,...they are softer than Zara's etc...!!!
Έχω ακριβώς το ίδιο φουλάρι!Το αγόρασα από τα zara φέτος το χειμώνα!!!
at least it's a cute pattern...
K@terina B: I know Pull & Bear is famous for ripping off graphic designers and street artists for their t-shirt prints... I'll try to find out who they might have copied this time, but I would also love to hear if you have any idea who was this print inspired/copied from, in the first place.
Efi + Angie: Girls, I would love it if you could post or e-mail me a picture of the Zara scarf, so we can compare the print. Think that's possible?
Stella: Indeed, it is! It's one of my favourite scarfs, if not one of my favourite objects, ever. I was seriously contemplating buying the top as well, but it would be kind of overkill, don't you think?
Hm, I also see no foul play here. Even big companies buy fabric from certain manufacturers. For example, I recently was reading how Cacharel became big in Japan by making girlie dresses with the famous Liberty patterns - this doesn't mean that the dress is not Cacharel, nor that another designer would do anything wrong by using the same Liberty pattern for another dress. Big companies also have their own fabric, e.g. Armani, which you can also buy yourself for tailoring, e.g. from Tsantilis (my mom used to do that with classic wool fabrics). What I find more annoying in the fashion industry is how certain trends get "pushed" for a couple of years in a row (e.g. star, skull, smiley patterns, or certain colors), while every year they sell is as something new - when it isn't. A lot of ultra trends from every year can be found in the previous year's collections, I think.
hmm seems weird indeed and you surely can guess that badila "got inspired" of inditex and not the other thing around. from the little thing i know of copyrights though, if you change the subject even a little bit you can claim that it's your own design. as you can see the patterns are slightly different and my guess is that this was on purpose!
lopi :
http://efiscorner.blogspot.com/2009/06/mysterious-pattern.html
:)
einai kapws diaforetikes oi fatsoules, alla to concept einai idio.
All this stories! This is how textile industry works such as all industries the last years. Take a look at the cars for instance Toyota aygo Citroen c1 and Peugeot 107, if I am not wrong they are the same from the same factories. And this, in industrial word it’s called COOPERATION. I am glad that in your world it’s called lack of creativity etc. Any way it happens to love Badila’s clothes I believe they have a personality that bigger brands don’t have.
Lefteris: I would only consider this a "cooperation" if knew that the original creator of the artwork was being paid for his work every time that print was used to make fabric. Or I would call it off as plain inspiration if it wasn't exactly the same. Neither of those two cases apply here.
Oh, and I love Badila's clothes too, as well as the fact they still make them in Greece. As I stated before in my post and comments, I don't consider Badila responsible for the copy.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your view with us!
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