Benefits Of Copying For The Fashion Industry

During the interwar years, the highly illustrious fashion industry faced an incoming challenge from the development of counterfeiting. At the time, Paris and New York were the fashion capitals of the world, both with opposing viewpoints on copyright law and the protection of fashion design. Veronique Pouillard, the author of Design Piracy in the Fashion Industries of Paris and New York in the Interwar Years, successfully explores these contrasting approaches in her article.

Pouillard does a phenomenal job of analyzing these contradicting mindsets by examining two different fashion stakeholders, the French and the Americans.

Her writing is well organized, as she effectively uses subheadings when discussing a new topic and includes clear and concise points. Being able to easily follow and understand her writing, I concluded that the French believed that fashion was considered a division of high art. As a result, when plagiarism emerged through the use of copy houses, the French had a more adamant structure in place to combat knock-off goods.

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Although the implementation of French copyright laws did not completely protect French designers, it was the best option available. Pouillard uses many primary sources as well to support her writing, including Paris papers from the criminal code, to help readers comprehend the harsh penalties that copiers could potentially receive.

Furthermore, I also managed to take away that Pouillard’s main argument was the French approach, introducing an indirectly implied bias in her writing as she herself has a prominent French background. In her eyes, the protection of intellectual property is a prerequisite for the production of arts to prosper.

When taking a look at this situation from the American perspective, she focused on the fact that fashion was not considered “art” by the American government, and therefore is not subject to being protected under copyright laws.

During the mid 1920’s, those in favour of recognizing fashion design as artwork took the issue to a congressional debate on the Vestal Bill. Pouillard used this bill as a primary source to deliver snippets of what was transpiring at that time period. The American people believed that the Vestal Bill would make high brand fashion goods less available for the poor and more for the rich. As a result, this effort, along with many others, to modify American copyright laws have been dismissed. Pouillard and many others believe protecting fashion design from piracy is critical for the free market to operate. While I do believe that it is integral to protect clothing brands and their design ideas, I was also able to develop an educated opinion that design piracy is actually quite healthy for the fashion industry.

Firstly, I believe that copying is beneficial for the fashion industry because it provides fashion producers with an incentive to innovate. With replicated goods in the fashion market, some may believe that it might be harmful to the industry, however, I believe that it can spark innovation and lead to better quality goods for consumers. The market is full of trends that continuously enter and exit, and knock-offs essentially act as catalysts that keep the market flowing. Different styles enter and exit quicker, and consequently force producers to come up with new goods to stay ahead of the curve. Secondly, what was also mentioned often in the article was that design piracy results in cheaper goods for consumers. Individuals do not have to belong to society’s elite to look good; rather they can get the clothes they want at a much cheaper and affordable price. The latest styles are simply not just available to the wealthy but to the middle class as well, due to design piracy and all that it entails. While Poillard takes a different approach to protecting fashion design, what I have grasped from this article is that the fashion industry revolves itself around copying and that knockoffs have increased industry revenue.