Mr Gregory Lions, a former financial analyst for Dun & Bradstreet Inc., and currently the CEO of Buyherebuynow.com is ranting that fashion brands by asking “outrageous prices” have brought the trademark infringements problem upon themselves.
“By pricing their wares in the stratosphere, designers are essentially causing the knock-off market to thrive. Women see these must have fashion accessories in magazines like VOGUE and ELLE and want them. But when a handbag costs what the average middle class woman makes in a year, what choice does she have? She can’t afford the real thing so she buys a copy, much the same way that an art lover who desires a Picasso will hang a lithograph on his wall.“
Read Mr Lions rant here at the site called Portugal.
Has Mr Lions a point? Not really. Many exclusive brand producers invest heavily in the creative process and in the marketing of the goods. There is nothing wrong if these companies want to price their products as high as they want or manufacture only a limited amount. The market will take care of it. Mr Lions is describing women as helpless victims of fashion, as if they do not have a choice. But, of course, they do.
There is a hierarchy of fashion. From haute couture to different degrees of prêt-à-porter, which is haute couture scaled down made from cheaper material and with increased volumes for the masses. A prêt-à-porter can be seen as the lithograph compared to the oil canvasses of Picasso.
And by the way, if you buy a lithograph of Picasso, the manufacturer of the lithograph has to pay for the use of the work, because there are still author’s rights on the works of Pablo Picasso. Answers about this subject can be found at The Succesion Picasso.
Professor Susan Scafidi covers the subject of counterfeit fashion at Counterfeit Chic extensively and in a great way.
