New Legislation Could Impact Indie Fashion Designers On Etsy.

I’m not a lawyer. This is just my interpretation of the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act.

Only a few days ago Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act (S. 3728). What follows is a brief, clear and simple interpretation of that legislation and how it could affect indie fashion designers for better or worse – and there is a worse.

Let’s be up front and honest, most of us aren’t as interested in politics as we should be. How many times have you flipped right past C-SPAN to get to Two And A Half Men without even considering what those old fogies in gray suits are debating? Don’t be too embarrassed; I do it too.

This handy little piece of proposed legislation is being sold as a way to offer intellectual property protection to unique and original fashion designs. Or more simply put, it means no copycatting or ‘borrowing’ other designers’ clever and crafty ideas unless you can combine them with enough of your own ideas and style to make a completely new and unique product. As it stands the U.S. is the only industrialized nation that is completely devoid of laws prohibiting the piracy of clothing. That pretty much means you can watch the Oscars then go and replicate every single dress you see on the red carpet and start a business selling copycat dresses – which is exactly what the designers at Faviana do. This isn’t slander; just check out the Celebrity Red Carpet Dresses link on their site and you’ll see they make no effort to hide it. In fact, they scream it – Hey these dresses are exactly like the ones see on the red carpet! That is, for a fraction of the price of course. It’s not nice, but it is legal and it’s big business.

So Mr. Schumer’s new law will attempt to put a stop to this sort of blatant replication. Don’t be misled; you wont be able to sue a fellow Etsian because she made a blue pea coat with wood buttons that maybe looks a little like the one you made last year. A coat is much too common and useful an item to copyright. Can you imagine how awful it would be if only one design house were allowed to make pea coats? Now, if someone buys your pea coat and then takes it apart, traces each piece, and remakes the exact pea coat with all of your unique little tricks and details that make it special and unlike all other pea coats, then that, under Mr. Schumer’s Piracy Prevention Act would be illegal. Sound good so far?

However, there are some sneaky little loopholes that small, independent designers need to be aware of. Like most laws, bills, and acts, there’s lots of room for interpretation, and like most legislation this act has the potential to do as much harm as good.

Let’s look back on that blue pea coat with wood buttons you made last year. Let’s say it was moderately popular and a dozen or so boutiques each ordered a size run. Now let’s say a buyer from the fictitious company Mega-Super-Fashion comes along, sees your pea coat and says to himself, ‘Hmm, I could easily reproduce these in my multi-million dollar factory, take a few stylish snapshots, and sell them as my own and make a killing.’ Right about now you’re probably thinking, ‘thank goodness I’d be covered by the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act.’ Unfortunately, it’s this very act that could be fodder for M-S-F to sue you.

If you cannot unequivocally document that that exact pea coat was designed and made by you (and you don’t have thousands to spend on a lawyer to take you to a federal trial) the big company can claim ownership of the design and, with a short, swift, and very aggressive cease and desist order, put you out of business and crush your dreams. This isn’t meant to imply that any company in specific would partake in such unscrupulous practices, but there is such thing as a ‘strike suit’ a strategy where companies target hundreds of small businesses at the same time, sending out letters from their law departments demanding just a few thousand dollars in order to avoid legal action. Schumer’s proposed act could be another avenue of attack for such below the belt punches.

The objective is to be aware that at this time clothing cannot be copyrighted. Once Schumer’s Piracy Prevention Act goes into effect you cannot sue or be sued for making and selling slightly similar garments to those sold by others. However, your unique work and the unique works of others will be protected from illegal duplication. It’s up to the designer to document her creations thoroughly and publicly with the U.S. Patent Office and other outlets. If you don’t have the resources to do this, at the very least you should save anything that proves your unique designs are yours. Post your designs to Flickr and Photobucket as these often show when images were uploaded. If you have a website, keep images of your work on your site in a hidden directory. Saving local newspaper articles, screenshots of blogs, and even logs of your sold Etsy listings can be beneficial if someone should steal your designs, or claim you have stolen theirs.

In summation, let’s be grateful that lawmakers are finally validating clothing design as an art form. Let’s also be thankful that on it’s surface the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act (S. 3728) sets out to protect all fashion designers and their unique ideas and designs. But at the same time let’s be weary that the law functions as a double edge sword to be used by those underhanded and savvy individuals that make up the less attractive side of the industry.

For more information check out:
http://www.cfda.com/
http://www.cfda.com/schumer-introduces-legislation-to-protect-fashion-design/
http://counterfeitchic.com/
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/behind-the-scenes-of-oscar-fashion/
http://faviana.com
http://www.lexisnexis.com/Community/copyright-trademarklaw/blogs/fashionindustrylaw/archive/2010/08/09/schumer-introduces-legislation-to-protect-fashion-design.aspx
http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/trademarks.shtml

My First Etsy Treasury

Today I put together my first Etsy treasury. I've been lucky enough to have been featured in many treasuries since starting my new account: I've even been on the Etsy frontpage several times in one day. I figured it's time for me to come up with my own treasury to show the Etsy community that I'm on the lookout too. Below is a screenshot of what I came up with:























I never realized how much time and effort it takes to assemble twelve items into one group. I focused on photographs that I liked. That was it. I didn't have any special requirements. If I like your pic you're in. It took me about an hour and 35 pages of scrolling. Maybe I'm just really picky and don't know it.
One thing I did keep in mind is that Etsy seems to favor gray and white items for treasuries, so I used a lot of color. But I just like colorful things so it worked out perfect.

I have a new respect for the people who put these things together on a regular basis and for fun. I'm sure there's a more efficient way to do it than just choosing a single broad category and randomly scrolling, but the hunt is part of the fun.

the old wall becomes the perfect backdrop

I always try to take nice pictures of the stuff I make. Lately I've been posting lots of vintage items on Etsy. Just because I'm not making it doesn't mean I don't take pride in my photos. So many people seem to not care about how they photograph their vintage items. They simply toss them on the old plastic dummy and fire away. Take a look below to see how I use what's available at the time to shoot my vintage items.I'm working in a small office upstairs from a cute antique shop. My room is full, and quite small. There is a second room that's in pretty rough shape and off limits to customers. The shop owner was kind enough to let me shoot in this room. As you can see from the picture above, it's rustic, rundown, and full of unique beauty. It's the kind of beauty that escapes most people, but I saw it right away. This full garment shot give you a pretty good idea of what the room looks like. What you can't see are the stacks of chairs, buckets of silverware, large dusty wooden furniture, glass table tops and 100 degree heat.

Close cropped shots are the best way to class things up. Here you see the name brand dress form and just a touch of rusticity with the exposed boards. Had the boards not been there this would have been a very bland shot that could have been taken against a paper backdrop. The focus is still on the garment - just a much smaller area. This allows the viewer to see the buttons, ruffles and fabric texture. It's so much warmer that a sterile white catalog shot.

This black Oscar De La Renta blouse was a real pain to shoot. The sheer fabric, intense afternoon light and high contrast between black and white really toyed with my camera settings and photography skills. I tried everything I could think of to get a nice pic to show the tie and gathers, but nothing worked. Finally I stepped outside the box and used the objects in the room to beautify the piece I was shooting. In the back you will see (blurred out) a vibrant 70's couch, an old table, a bed frame, a gold framed picture and a ton of dust. But your eye concentrates on the garment.

I can't tell you how to take your pics. And I can't make you take your time and take pride in your work. I can't even tell you how to find beauty in what you have at your disposal, I can only tell you that it's there if you look.

The Advantages of Working From an Office Instead of Home

I've been working from home for about five years and it's been great. Those of you who do it know all the advantages: no commute, comfy, convenient, handy fridge, etc. I've always used the master bedroom as my sewing room and usually take one more room for misc cutting and designing tasks. But I had to move into an office, and after the initial shock I've found there are some advantages to working OUT OF THE HOUSE.

The advantages can be summed up easily: it all boils down to productivity. Away from home I've become far more productive. So much so, that the time spent commuting and cost of rent and gas are offset by the amount of work I've gotten done.
Above is a corner shot of my workspace. The main thing to notice is the lack of distractions. It's very spartan and all business. I've wasted so many good working hours watching TV. But here it's not happening. I've always been a very disciplined person, but I am human so time wasting is in my DNA. I'm so much more focused now that time wasting is not an option..

Another advantage I've found is that once you set up a workspace you kinda become part of the community. While working from home I was very isolated and even a bit out of touch. Now I get out each day and see what people are wearing, I hear what they're taking about. It helps me break out of the myopia and makes me more creative as a designer. It also helps to get my name out locally.

Working in sweats or pajama bottoms is no problem around the house, but it's a huge no - no out in public so I've taken to dressing up for work and that has also been helpful. Over the next few weeks I'll be mapping out new routes to and from work so that I can check out so local thrift shops. I'll put together some outfits like the one in my previous post, wear the ensemble, clean it and post it on Etsy.

I guess it doesn't matter where you work from as long as you're doing something. I'm very lucky to have found a cute place to work. I'm going to stick it out for a little while, but I don't know if it's a permanent thing.

Vintage!

Anyone who knows me personally knows I am a huge vintage collector. I just moved to a new place in South Florida and it's much smaller than my last house. I'm going to clear out a bunch of my vintage collection by trying to list one new item a day. I love making collages and I think for most girls, the hardest part about buying clothes is figuring out how to accessorize an outfit. So every night, before I go to bed I'm going to try to make a quick collage featuring a new vintage item I list along with suggestions on what to wear it with.

Here's my first one along with the first vintage item I'll be posting this week:



Here's where you can get the following items:
Vintage Warm Stripes Dress, patriciavalery.etsy.com - $28
Gold Tree Branch Necklace, daffodilboutique.etsy.com - $29
Marc by Marc Jacobs Sunglasses, www.macys.com - $85
Naturalizer Rhea Sandals, www.macys.com - $69
Abaco Dona Small Satchel Bag, www.asos.com - $450
Marc by Marc Jacobs Butterfly Sunglasses, www.macys.com - $85
Vintage Brown Leather Belt, www.bowsandbandits.com - $23

One of my dresses was just featured on the front page of Etsy!

I got an unusually high amount of emails this afternoon and realized it was because my brown dress was featured on the front page of Etsy today. Every time I'm included in a treasury I realize how lucky I am to be doing what I do.
I moved to South Florida last weekend so I haven't listed any new items in over two weeks. But I'm moving into a new workspace this weekend so my workday will be back to normal on Monday. Expect to see many new things soon! I'll also post pics of my new workspace. It's amazing!

Sewing Chiffon

I finally made my first garments with chiffon fabric. In all of my years of sewing I had never had the chance to actually sew with chiffon. My favorite fabrics to work with are jerseys, and since many jerseys have a similar effect I just always took the easy route.
It ended up being simpler to work with than I expected. I've heard many people say chiffon is the hardest fabric to work with. But I found that by taking my time, making sure my machine tension was set accurately and investing in the right needle and thread it was pretty simple.
The only thing I really found a little annoying is that I like to use fabric weights when I cut to avoid spending too much time pinning my pattern to my fabric. The chiffon had to be pinned because it wanted to move away from my scissors when I cut it.
I discovered that I'm in love with this fabric! It is so soft and drapes so well. I think it's the perfect fabric for summer clothes. I'm planning on designing many items in this fabric.