As you know by now Feral Childe is one of my favorite design teams. I own a few of their pieces and I have nothing but the highest praise for the fit, quality and creativity of their garments. That is why I was appauled when I came across this article on "ecouterre" today. Forever 21 flat out steals their "teepee" print, slaps it on a white romper, it hit the stores nationwide, calls it their own, and people were buying. I mean, really, are your creative directors lacking this much that you have to steal from a small company, that has worked so hard for numerous amount of years to come up with these concepts and ideas, really? It makes me so angry bc these are the huge corporations with millions, scratch that, billions of dollars that are taken the hard work of people who worked their asses off to create these pieces of art. Yes... fashion IS art, it is an expression of self, so, in my eyes Forever 21 is actually stealing their soul. However, I am very pleased to annouce that Feral Childe designers Alice Wu and Moriah Carlson had registered the "teepees" with US Copyright Office and are going to do what these jerks have had coming to them for years... TEAM FERAL CHILDE!!
Photo by ecouterre
"A few weeks ago, we discovered one of our prints appearing on garments manufactured by Forever 21--a large, major retailer. Feral Childe's artwork was used without our permission or knowledge, and appears on multiple styles sold in the Forever 21 stores and on their website. Some styles have even received press. The print is our hand-drawn Teepees, widely featured in Feral Childe's Fall 2009 Collection School Play. Many of you have leggings, jeans, and dresses or other garments featuring our Teepees. The Forever 21 garments appear to reproduce Teepees exactly. If compared side by side you would not be able to distinguish any difference in the artwork.
Feral Childe has always strived to bring you the very best in innovative, ethically-produced clothing that is made to last. When we first started out we could only dream about the day when we'd be able to design our own fabrics. With the support of our community--friends, family, collaborators, showroom, suppliers, contractors, and our loyal customers--we have grown the business to be able to offer our very original, very personal hand-drawn textile designs to you each season.
For the past fifteen years, we have dedicated ourselves to this artistic partnership. Feral Childe's designs are the product of these years invested in our deep friendship and artistic training. We create textile designs reflecting a singular aesthetic voice. It can take months for us to develop Feral Childe's prints. The creative process begins with the two of us sitting side by side drawing and painting together and continues as we comment, critique and edit until we perfect the print design.
Through our hard work, Feral Childe has been sold in more than 70 independent retailers in the US and Japan. We feel fortunate to have weathered the recession and to be able to continue to do what we love. Even with our successes, we are a tiny company. Each wholesale account is a personal relationship nurtured over the course of seasons. Each customer we meet inspires us to design something better for you next time. If you are reading this, we could not have come this far without you. It simply is not fair that another party profits from artwork that was not created by them, was not their idea, and does not belong to them.
Forever 21 has unfairly profited from Feral Childe's years of artistic development. Without any consideration or respect for the origin of the artwork, Forever 21's mass reproduction of our textile design without our permission is extremely unethical, and in direct violation of the law. It's frustrating that this enormous company, with over a billion dollars a year in revenues, would dare to poach the artistic creations of a small company such as ours.
Our Teepees design is protected by law, registered with the US Copyright Office. When we sent Forever 21 our cease and desist letter regarding this copyright infringement, Forever 21 denied liability and even stated that perhaps Feral Childe copied the design from another source. Once we received that outrageous response, our attorneys filed a lawsuit, currently pending in Federal Court in Los Angeles. We hope that you might show your support for Feral Childe by spreading the word. Tell your friends, or forward, comment, post, retweet the articles below. We thank you in advance."
Let the man get whats coming to him....
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