A FASHION student has hit out at £5.1bn denim brand Levi’s for allegedly ripping off her designs.
Caitlin Fraser from Govanhill, Glasgow, shared images that show remarkable similarity between her creations and Levi’s recent Handmaid’s Tale-themed products.
The third year Fashion and Design student from The Glasgow School of Art claims that the brand stole ideas from her after she entered and was shortlisted for one of their competitions.
Pictures show 22-year-old Caitlin’s work, which features the words of conceptual artist Jenny Holzer bleached onto distressed denim, compared alongside a Levi’s jacket that has quotes from The Handmaid’s Tale printed on to it.
Caitlin took to Twitter to vent her frustrations, sharing images of her work alongside Levi’s latest range with the caption:
“Find it weird that this @LEVIS design is very similar to the stuff I sent to Levi’s for a competition a few months ago which I was shortlisted for therefore they have looked at my work. They’ve also captioned it ‘join the resistance’ which my whole project was based on…”
Social media users have reacted with outrage to the Tweet, which has clocked up over 2,000 likes.
@BrackenBuchan replied: “I would be so livid if that happened to me! It’s actually shocking how many up and coming designers have the same stories about big companies ripping off of them! Deffo get a lawyer if it’s not been put in the small print and even then surely you should get a cut of the proceeds.”
Kelly Sloan retweeted Caitlin’s photos with the caption: “Absolute snakes. Why do big brands LUUUUV to steal ideas from designers and give them no credit for it, like they’ve actually just stolen a whole idea!!! They’re an actual billion dollar company the least they could do was give Caitlin a bit of recognition. Embarrassing.”
While Mathew Cleland said: “@LEVI’S explain yersels!!”
Replying to the comments Caitlin added: “They had the absolute cheek to tell me I hadn’t won their competition but then stole ideas off me.”
Caitlin had been shortlisted in the top 20 of the Levi’s X Arts Thread 2019 competition for her concept entitled: “Rule Breakers vs Rule Makers”.
Levi’s tweeted the image to advertise their new line of patches inspired by TV drama The Handmaid’s Tale, based on Margaret Attwood’s 1985 novel about life in a dystopian United States.
Speaking today, Caitlin said: “I was pretty shocked and angry when I saw it and I knew straight away that it was so similar to the stuff I had sent them. Hopefully I get some recognition for the design.”
Levi’s have since responded to Caitlin’s tweet saying: “We at Levi’s just provided the blank canvas for their art, not any design direction. We have a lot of respect for other peoples’ work, and want to assure you that we wouldn’t use your art without working with you. In that regard, we appreciate you voicing your concerns.”
