Clothing Designer Zara Accused of Ripping Off Forty Artists

From StopArtTheft.com:

Once is a mistake. This many times is inexcusable. Global fashion retailer Zara appears to have stolen dozens of artworks from over 20 independent illustrators, designers, and brands including Tuesday Bassen (whose particularly awful case has gone viral) and Adam J. Kurtz (that's me). Help us hold the company accountable to directly address this glaring intellectual property infringement and fairly compensate these artists.

Maybe plagiarism is not a big deal to a lot of people. People steal stuff when they think they can get away with it. I mean, people copied off of your paper in school, right? Melania Trump just did it. The clothing company Zara allegedly did it too, and is making money off of the stolen designs for shirts, decals and pins.

Zara is accused of taking designs and art from forty artists and putting them on their (Zara's) clothing to sell without the artists' permission, credit or compensation. The company's response: we are bigger and therefore, we can do that.

Might is right and might will out, even over ethics; even over what our moms told us NOT to do. You don't cheat, you don't steal. But Zara says it's too big for all that.

Adam Kurtz has launched a site StopArtTheft.com to help bring attention to this illegal activity.

From More Than 40 Artists and Designers Accuse Zara of Plagiarism by Carey Dunne:

After he launched the site, more artists contacted Kurtz saying Zara had ripped off their designs. The number of allegedly plagiarized designs has almost quadrupled. 

“We were all surprised to find that our creative work was suddenly all over Zara product,” Kurtz wrote in a statement on the website. “Our original art has been reproduced as pin and patch sets, embroidered decals and prints on apparel.

To support the artists, visit shoparttheft.com, and follow them on instagram, twitter, and tumblr.

My thanks to Bado for the heads up on this!