Nanette Lepore's Sneetch Problem
The impeccably dressed Julian Sanchez unmasks the Design Piracy Prohibition Act:
Thorny as these problems may be, a deeper question is whether it's even proper to frame the debate as being about "piracy," which implicitly suggests an analogy with illicit copying of software, music, and movies.One way "piracy" rhetoric has clouded the issue is by obscuring the difference between knockoffs and counterfeits. A press release from the office of Virginia Republican Bob Goodlatte, a sponsor of the House version of the bill, invokes Customs and Border Protection statistics showing that "counterfeiting merchandise, as a whole, is responsible for the loss of 750,000 American jobs" and "between $200 and $250 billion in sales." But counterfeits are illegal under current law, and banning imitations by legitimate retailers may drive consumers, not to the designer originals, but to the black-market bags and blouses that have been linked with funding terrorism.
There are also important differences between the way copying works in fashion and the way it works in other industries. A bootleg copy of a CD or a computer program is a near-perfect substitute for the genuine article: Sony and Microsoft worry about piracy because they fear the copies will directly displace sales. Designers, however, seem at least as concerned about dilution as displacement: They worry couture consumers will flee goods that lose their aura of exclusivity, like Sneetches rubbing the stars from their bellies.
Julian invokes the horror of Burberry-covered chavs. I'm reminded of this Grant McCracken post on brand management:
A couple of days ago, I was in a mall in Connecticut and I saw a 10 year old girl, the very picture of suburban privilege, whistle past in an "I [heart] hip hop" t-shirt…For many trends, this is the kiss of death.
Terrifying. Hip-hop ought to fear girls in pigtails, Burberry ought to fear chav weddings, and Marc Jacobs ought to fear the plus size section in the back of Dress Barn. This is certainly not news, but designers seem to be using the vocabulary of piracy--something they feel empowered to legislate against--to describe the inevitable process of dilution.
