I should have written about this last week when I awoke to a swarm of angry facebooker raging on H&M's profile. Alas, procrastination and I have long had an understanding; it cripples my potential and I let it. My issues aside, it seems that the endlessly stylish (and incredibly affordable) fashion outlet has stolen a design from an artist in East Atlanta.
Tori LaConsay created the piece for display in her community in 2008 as "a love letter to her 'tight-knit' neighborhood" says www.fashionista.com. It looks like someone in H&M's design department decided that the "dog ate my homework" approach wasn't going to cut it after a long night painting the town tweed (enter Chanel) and opted to plagiarise via the eleventh grade.
"You look nice" is a phrase that usually evokes feelings of pride but there are thousands of angry fashionistas around the world refusing to shop at H&M because of this little compliment. The company changed the font and removed the punctuation before plastering LaConsay's image all over pillows and door mats in their Korean stores, but the similarity was still close enough for someone to recognise it.
I'm not going to lie, I still adore the store but it's looking pretty sneaky that this design wasn't released in North America where the original is hangin' out for all to see. Things like this disappoint me to no end because it reminds me that the rich take from the rest of us to get richer and we just get shoved aside.
H&M's initial response to LaConsay's concerns about plagiarism was less than impressive to say the least. Their Facebook page boasted this response, "We apologise if anyone should think we have copied, which has never been our intention and also not allowed. We have merely been inspired after seeing many different varieties with different text messages, to create something similar in a different font... and the placement of the shaped heart. We are truly sorry if we have led someone to believe that we should have copied someone else's creation." initially but that has been taken down and replaced with more sensitive words, "We are very sorry for our customer service team´s reply, it is very unfortunate and we apologize for it. We are in contact with Tori LaConsay and will continue the dialogue with her directly." A much better response than the first, if you ask me. I find it quite arrogant that the public relations department thought they could sweep this under the rug whilst they continue selling someone else's artwork as their own.
The merchandise has been removed from shelves, and rightfully so. All I can say is that I hope this was the first and last time H&M tries to get away with fraud. It's clear that consumers care about where their favourite stores get their inspiration from and we are not afraid to make a fuss when we don't like what we find out.
What do you think of this little scandal? Do you think Tori LaConsay has a case? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
More information here and here.
Skinny Love,
Ciara
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