Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Urban Outfitters Steals Again- UPDATED

UPDATE: UO has responded and apologized, removing the item. I do understand that they purchase from overseas vendors, and while they may be stealing from poor little Etsy sellers like myself (my pieces are plastered all over Alibaba, with other factories' watermarks on my pictures), it seems that UO isn't always aware of who gets copied by who. 
Anyway, I guess I can keep on wearing my many Urban/Anthro items of clothing.


Read on for the original scandal….

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My friend Julia recently sent me a link to this ring from Urban Outfitters.

It looks suspiciously like my Cleopatra Ring


Notice their $10 sale price. 

How is that even possible?!?!

I carved MY ring out of wax. It was one of the first pieces I made when I started working in wax last year. It is cast in recycled brass by a wonderful company in NYC. I work with my hands to transform all of my jewelry from rough, raw castings into smooth, wearable, shiny pieces. Just to give you an idea of what goes into each ring.I have permanent blisters from cutting off the sprues (the left over little pieces of metal from when it was cast). 

This obviously isn't the first time Urban has stolen designs from independent artists.

Remember that time they copied Etsy seller Truche's state heart pendants? No? Here's a refresher.  (even though there was residual backlash that that design had been floating around the jewelry world already. but still.)

It also happened to Glam Trash. 


And then there's this general awfulness.

So, that's that. Let the raging begin. 

3 comments:

  1. to answer your question the reason UO is able to sell that ring for cheap is because they buy there materials in bulk for a low price

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  2. I'm thinking of purchasing the silver and opal ear cuff, but I don't have my ears pierced.
    Do I need pierced ears or can I wear it without?

    ReplyDelete
  3. They've done this before with other designer/makers. Some directly ripped off and others, like you, who were ripped off by some factory in China then sold it onto UO. They can produce the ring for cheap because it's basically mass produced in their factories in China. It wouldn't surprise me to find your design all over Asia, they don't have any copyright laws whatsoever, so the factory who made them for UO could sell them to anyone. Watch out for your designs on Etsy! Sad:(

    ReplyDelete