4. Plagiarism and Fabrication

Plagiarism and Fabrication: Fashion

According to Google, the official definition of plagiarism is “the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.” In other words, the plagiarize is to steal something that isn’t yours and say that it’s yours. Likewise, Google also says that fabrication is “the action or process of manufacturing or inventing something.” In other words, to fabricate is to create a lie. 

U.S. Copyright Laws regarding plagiarism

Citadel states, “Any time you borrow from an original source and do not give proper credit, you have committed plagiarism and violated U.S. copyright laws,” which can be found in Title 17 of the United States Code. In the United States, it is illegal to take someone’s ideas and present them as your own original idea and can be prosecuted in court. However, this does not insure that those who commit plagiarism will get arrested for it. The state in which a prosecution has taken place determines whether the plagiarism will be established as a felony or not, along with federal laws. 

Plagiarism and Fabrication in Fashion 

In the industry of art and fashion, plagiarism is more common than what’s displayed to the public. Plagiarism is extended beyond original words, lyrics, or other literary works. Plagiarism and fabrication are commonly seen in fashion with original designs, unique patterns, and other forms of fashion. Designers all over the world have access to the same colors, shapes, and mostly the same materials. What makes each design different is how one decides to create something using his/her resources. Realistically, some things are bound to be similar to one another; for ideas not to be alike would be impossible. The cycle of creation is to take old ideas, regenerate them, and produce them as new. Many con artists chose to plagiarize with that concept in mind. 

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In September of 2018, a Facebook post was released by fashion designer, Edda Sofie Gimnes, politely but boldly accusing fashion designer, Moschino, of fabricating an original released line of hers. To the public eye, it is clear that the style of Sofie Gimnes is unique and daring, also described as a "visually striking style" with electric and bold designs. In the post, Gimnes starts off with, "Today I woke up extremely disappointed and to a full inbox of people who know my work and saw yesterday's Moschino collection." The fashion designer then decided to publicly accuse Moschino of stealing her original idea. Gimnes was even more appalled because she had met a worker from Moschino's team a year before this happened. Not long afterwards, the creative director of Moschino, Jeremy Scott, went on social media and denied the copyright allegations and the allegation of Moschino's inspiration coming from Sofie Gimnes completely. According to Scott, it was entirely inspired by Moschino's previous collection, but Gimnes and her fans think otherwise. 

Dupes and Counterfeits

In today's industry sales and marketing, dupes are becoming the leading advocates of sales. Dupes are known as knock-off versions of more expensive products, but they look almost exactly the same as the original, usually with obvious quality differences. In some cases, these knock-offs are exactly the same. Because of the cheap price, people are willing to buy dupes of Stanley cups, Uggs, purses and handbags, etc. These are generally sold at fast-paced stores, like H&M, Forever 21, Shein, TikTok shop, etc. 

Counterfeits are knock-off versions of the originals with the trademark of the original design. The concept of the product is to deceive the buyer into thinking they are buying the original or a chain to the original. Similar to the accusations that Edda Sofie Gimnes made against Moschino, many artists pick an original design of a particular brand and mimics it in his/her own productions. Dupes are made with a cheaper quality fabric and material, and they are established as knock-offs of the original. Copied designs are often acknowledged as "unknowns," as in the designer didn't know of the design similar to his/her production and establishes it is completely original(fabrication.) 

Plagiarism and fabrication are not commonly served in the fashion industry, considering not many are able to tell the difference from an item that serves as a dupe and an item that's been blatantly copied and presented as original. Because of this, plagiarism is often bypassed. Plagiarism and fabrication are also not commonly served else where, which may involve literary works, self-owned business ideas, recipes, etc. The legalities of plagiarism aren't much of a threat to con artists in above all industries.