STATUS QUO
After working in fashion accessory industry for many years, we have discovered many common practices that are both deceptive and unethical, however, very few people know about them.
Private Labeling
Buy stock products at discount, sew their brand label on them, and sell for a premium price.
Plagiarized Design
When purchasing inventory, no one cared if the design was original or plagiarized.
Deceptive Marketing
Paying $20 for something that cost $2 but was ‘originally’ $40 is not a great deal.
PRIVATE LABELING
Average fashion retailers carry more than 300 items every season, designing and manufacturing each of them are both expensive and time consuming. In order to keep the revenue increasing and impress their shareholders, the fashion industry came up with the idea of ‘private label’ clothing.
‘Private labeling’ consists of purchasing ready-to-sell products from middleman and stitching the brand label into the garment, this practice allows them to create an illusion of original design and high value without actually designing them. This is why one often finds design and quality discrepancies within the same brand, since many of their products are private labeled from stock items, retailers often do not have control over the design nor the quality.
read more...Private Labeling
IP Problems
PLAGIARIZED DESIGN
Average fashion retailers carry more than 300 items every season, designing and manufacturing each of them are both expensive and time consuming. In order to keep the revenue increasing and impress their shareholders, the fashion industry came up with the idea of ‘private label’ clothing.
‘Private labeling’ consists of purchasing ready-to-sell products from middleman and stitching the brand label into the garment, this practice allows them to create an illusion of original design and high value without actually designing them. This is why one often finds design and quality discrepancies within the same brand, since many of their products are private labeled from stock items, retailers often do not have control over the design nor the quality.
read more...DECEPTIVE MARKETING
In addition to issues in quality, private labeling also creates complications with intellectual property. Because the products are purchased from a middleman, there is little to no way of knowing the original designer.
Furthermore, these designs are often plagiarized from local or smaller artists who do not receive credit for their original design. Unfortunately, there is little the artists can do about the blatant plagiarism, as they do not have the financial resources to bring a lawsuit against big retailers or overseas manufacturers. Thus, customers are likely to believe they are purchasing an original design due to the brand name.
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Discount Marketing