(Both Chanel SS 2006)
To add to the discussion about the Most Copied Sweater, I read today about Chanel being sued by World Tricot. World Tricot is a knitwear manufacturer that also does the knitwear production for Dior, Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier, Givenchy and Kenzo. World Tricot is claiming that Chanel is counterfeiting one of their designs and breech of contract. The evidence? A piece of white crochet that was supposedly proposed to Chanel and rejected versus a crochet Chanel vest. The case seems rather confusing as I read the story. Form what I understand, World Tricot produced a sample for Chanel, but rejected it, and somehow Chanel decided to produce them some other way? From working in the industry, often times designers will choose more than one vender to produce a sample and compare it quality and price before making a decision as to which vender to use. So I am rather confused, is Tricot claiming that they designed the vest? How is it possible to counterfeit your own product? This case is very strange. I wanted to find the "offending vest" but did not find what they were talking about. I find the wrap sweater above, is that it? So what is it now, we can sue over crochet? Chanel is countersinking...
wow...this is a really interesting...thanks for that..
ReplyDeleteCopyright and trademarks are such hot topics, I'm not surprised it extends into fashion (duh, naturally), not just knitting. Earlier this week I read a piece on copywriting recipes. It's really interesting.
ReplyDelete- MJ
I think they are saying that Chanel counterfeited it after seeing their sample and rejecting it. But what I dont get is do they mean the stitch pattern or the final object (and the complete pattern)? The latter would make sense, but the former is just ridiculous. How many stitch books are out there?
ReplyDeleteI'm confused about the use of "counterfeiting", too. It seems to imply that World Tricot designed the vest, when I thought (or would have expected) that the design was devised in-house at Chanel.
ReplyDeleteHowever, from searching about, World Tricot has apparently launched its own brand in the past couple of years, Angele Batist:
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050322-092205-7385r.htm
(towards the end)
... so, that company does design work? Could they have submitted a design to consideration by Chanel that was rejected? But that would mean that Chanel simply set the parameters (say, "give us a crocheted vest that fits these dimensions and fits the body like so, stitch pattern is up to you"). Do design houses work that way?
(and... hi!)
Hi j.
ReplyDeletePretty much how industry works, because most houses don't do their own production, they give the specifications to the vender and the vender does a sample for a pproval. Sometimes they ask for the same sample from different venders and they will compare and decide who to use. It's very unlikely that World Tricot "designed" it since Chanel was their client. It sounds likes they are argueing over stitch pattern. Ususally when working with a vender some idea of the stitch pattern is specified, but it's still up to the vender to work out the technical aspect. But argueing that it is counterfeit? Can this situation even be described as counterfeit? Maybe breech of contract if there is one, but we're not given any info on that.
Who knows, but it sounds be an interesting case to watch.
From my experience as a knit wear designer, sometimes a company selects from a vendor's selection of completely designed sweaters. I worked as a designer for a manufacturer. An entire season of knitwear would be designed and sampled and design houses, department stores, chain stores etc would choose which sweaters they wanted exclusively. Naturaly some had their own designs but rarely, more than a sketch.
ReplyDelete