Stolen – noico                                   Orginal – Mathiole in threadless

Noico aka ocion pl “gallery”:

http://ocionpl.daportfolio.com/gallery/331567#18

http://www.myspace.com/noicopl/photos/19816929

Orginal!

Use Your Brain by Matheus Lopes Castro in threadless

http://www.threadless.com/product/2060/Use_Your_Brain

There’s a store I walk past every morning on Cuba St (Wellington, NZ). They call themselves “Kolektiv Design Studio” and they sell t-shirts. There’s always a couple of things I recognize in the window, but they’re usually just Banksy stuff and he’s used to being ripped off so I never bothered thinking about it too much.

However earlier this week I noticed a t-shirt in the window with a graphic I recognized from Esty, I don’t remember the seller’s handle but it’s this Gangster Snow White MacBook sticker.

I went to their website, that shirt isn’t there but a lot of stolen designs are, and no where does it mention any affiliation with any of the designers. They seem to claim credit for everything they sell in their about us;

“Thought provoked and inspired by so many pioneering individuals, we use the t-shirt to portray ideas and concepts relating to environmental, political, spiritual and humorous matters to help stimulate the mind and get you thinking outside the box. We hope you like what we have to offer and choose to support this movement and wear our designs, and by doing so you help spread the love, provoking others to use inertia and push against the gravity of life’s struggles, trials and tribulations.”

They do have a page for submitting ideas but it says they will “profile” 3rd party designers with their work and I don’t see any of that, so it doesn’t look like people are selling them the stolen ideas unless they’re not crediting them for that either.

Compare a few (Kolektiv on the left with the koru backgrounds)

From ObeyThePurebreed.com

Bansky

From a book of the same name

myntra.com

After some google fu I found a threadless thread from 2008 and apparently they’ve been doing this for a while, mostly stealing Threadless designs. Even when there was an actual Threadless retailer down the street.

I also found a news article about an unrelated protect on the store, they are based in Auckland and one of the owners is named Jade Lynn.

This really disappointments me since as a country we’re really proud of our artists and designers for defining us as a creative culture. It’s almost like they think this is ok since we’re a small country and it’s very unlikely anything they steal will ever make it back to the original artist.

YTWWN SAYS: They have ripped it but it is so direct, I think they wanted us to notice…

Original: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughing_Man_(Ghost_in_the_Shell)

Iweston shop t-shirt featuring logo: http://iweston.spreadshirt.net/en/FR/Shop/Article/Index/article/DidShirt-9955499

Not only are the t-shirts Iweston is selling severly lacking in quality, but the’ve apparently gone so far as to outright copy logos. The “Laughing Man” is a is a fictional character in the anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. The T-shirts are also very expensive for what they are: 22 Euros for a shirt with a simple 1 color graphic on the front?!  This seems ridiculous when Design By Humans or Threadless sells amazing 4 color designs for as low as $15!

I wandered into Topshop in the UK with my girlfriend the other day and saw t-shirt i recognised from Threadless.com:

“Cookie loves milk”

http://www.threadless.com/product/342/Cookie_Loves_Milk#zoom

The one on Topshop by Newbreed girl: HERE

TBH i think its strange that Topshop are selling them as we don’t really have milk and cookies together over here…

I was browsing on Threadless when I found this guy:

…And immediately recognized it from a shirt that I’d bought about a year ago, at Yellow Rat Bastard (it’s by New Breed Girl):

Can’t be coincidence. I won’t be buying any NBG shirts in the future, that’s for sure.

I dont follow this site very much, but i randomly came up on Shiroi Nekos stuff.
Holy sweet 6lb 7oz baby jesus…did i come across horrible rip of a Ron Lewis design

heres the original seen on Threadless Select

and the amazing rip from Shiroi Neko

suxxxx

ive JUST now noticed that there is already a post about Shiroi Neko here
but decided to post this anyway

Design by Gemma Correll on Threadless:

source

Design by Hybrid tees on the Kohl’s website

source

I got an email from someone reporting that Forever 21 is selling a shirt that is a blatant rip-off of a design that I created for Threadless.com in October 2005

Here is my original design:

Here is the rip off:

From Forever 21:
http://www.forever21.com/product.asp?catalog_name=FOREVER21&category_name=top_graphict&product_id=2052770814&Page=1
Ripping off my design here:
http://www.threadless.com/product/342/Cookie_Loves_Milk

It’s obvious that this is a rip off, but not only that, it even looks like a trace. The angle of the milk carton is the same in the rip off, as is the hand holding and the arms and legs.

you can see what I am talking about with the angle of the rip off in this gif a friend put together:

This is especially depressing to me since I went through something similar to this a few months back with Hot Topic and another on of my Threadless designs. I was able to get a lawyer and Threadless involved and got Hot Topic to stop selling the shirt.

You can read more about that here:

http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/?p=861

and the resolution here:

http://finkenstein.livejournal.com/102250.html

I am very very glad this blog exists, but I still can’t help but hope I never have to post here again. It’s a sickening thing to know that people are making money off of your designs and ideas when those very ideas are the only things an artist can really own.

I and some very nice friends of mine have been contacting Forever 21 and requesting that they stop selling the shirt and respond to my Cease and Desist emails, if you feel like contacting them, please do:

online@forever21.com

http://www.forever21.com/customerservice/customerservice.asp?content=contact_comments

customerservices@forever21.com

The CEO Don Chang:

Chang@forever21.com

I haven’t gotten any response yet, but others have, which is usually how it goes. Please help protect artist’s rights and tell them how you feel about art theft.

Thanks,

Jess Fink

YTWWN EDIT: Both design are unoriginal, finger prints & tapes have been done by a few companies so I don’t think you can really call stussy or supreme the originators of those ideas.
Yes Forever 21 are notorious for ripping off stuff but I don’t think this is the best example.

——————————————————

We’ve all heard of heritage, a company owned by forever21, mainly aiming at male perspectives. But, have you found their inspiration? They try to play the game carefully, but oh, i’ve noticed.

For starter’s they ripped off one of threadless’s design by Christopher Golebiowski called “Funkalicious” they were smart enough to keep that off their website, but walk by any forever 21 and i’ll guarantee you, you can find a mannequin sporting that same tee.

Now here are two shirts from heritage, you can find them at their store’s now, or even on the website.

& Where have i seen these before? Oh yes, from Supreme and Stussy in the late 2007’s.

picture’s from, flikr & blogspot

YTWWN: Possible inspiration but I would call this a rip… 

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