“Remember, don’t copy someone else’s work!”
Most people have probably heard this line at least once in their lifetime. Since young, we were taught that copying is a bad thing. But in the real world, everyone copies someone else’s work. We have fast-fashion retailers making copies of designer clothing. The copies are called knockoff. Artists usually take snippets of another person’s creation to make a whole new song out of it. Maybe copying is not all bad.
When we analyze the fashion industry, knockoffs tend to benefit the masses. From a consumer’s perspective, we have fast fashion retailers selling designer clothing for a fraction of the designer brand cost. Studies shows us that dressing up well will affect our attitude and confidence. It boosts our self-esteem and allows us to project positive feeling outward towards people. Only the rich can afford designer clothes but what about the others? Should they feel inferior around the rich? The inferiority complex that may exist in themselves will only serve to increase the disparity between the rich and the others which will cause more harm than good in the long run. Knockoffs essentially solves this issue because it allows one to dress up whatever way they want, regardless of their financial status.
Moving on from the fashion industry, knockoffs also benefits consumers in the smartphone industry. We have Chinese smartphone companies such as Vivo and Oppo making knockoffs of the iPhones. If we place a Vivo V9 beside an iPhone X, they might be indistinguishable to the common eye. Difference? The knockoff phone costs half as much as the “designer” phone. It is especially beneficial for the people staying in Asia region that wants to own a smartphone but aren’t willing to pay an exorbitant amount for an iPhone. Similar to knockoffs in the fashion industry, knockoffs in the smartphone industry allows one to own a smartphone, regardless of their financial status.
If knockoffs are similar to designer clothing but cost much cheaper, why would consumers buy clothes from fashion houses such as Gucci and Versace? How can fashion houses expect to turn a profit every fiscal year? Well, they view knockoffs as a form of flattery of their work. Knockoffs do not faze them because they have a strong brand recognition and they have a loyal customer base that will choose their clothing or products over knockoffs (Wade, 2010).
Knockoffs can also spark innovation! Experts argue that copying does not kill creativity. One would presume designing knockoffs are easier than designing a new piece from scratch. Fashion trends change rapidly from time to time and it would be extremely difficult for designers to design new pieces every single season. Knockoff fashion designers can spend more time building on an existing garment instead of creating a new garment. We can also observe this in the food industry. Recipes can’t really be copyrighted and most people just blindly copy the recipes. However, this also leaves room for one to innovate the cuisine.
However, knockoffs cause detrimental effects to emerging designers or artists. He or she doesn’t get the recognition they deserve for their hard work in designing a new piece. They have called for stronger legislation but it fell on deaf ears. Despite copying being the norm in the fashion industry, the significance Internet and digital technology played in our lives made copying to occur faster. By the time their clothes are displayed on the runway, pictures of the piece are already being sent to China for mass production to reproduce the identical garment. Since designer clothing takes months to be produced, the knockoffs infiltrate the market first and he/she gets no recognition whatsoever from consumers. This is especially bad for up and coming designers since they need all the recognition and publicity they can get to be successful.
Let’s take a look at Clyde Stubblefield, one of the most sampled and exploited musicians of all time. His 20-second drum loop has been sampled on over 1,300 songs, from Public Enemy and Beastie Boys to George Michael, Britney Spears and Ed Sheeran. He was working in an era where artists were free to sample another artist’s work without paying or crediting the artist. In an interview with the New York Times, Stubblefield said:” People use my drum patterns on a lot of these songs… they never gave me credit, never paid me. It didn’t bug me or disturb me, but I think it’s disrespectful not to pay people for what they use.” He ended up dying in relative poverty.
According to whosampled.com, the most sampled song in history is called “Amen, Brother”, released by The Winstons in the 1960s. More than 2,000 songs have sampled a particular drum beat from the track that’s now known as the Amen Break. The drummer, G.C. Coleman, was not rewarded in any way for his efforts in creating the beat. He died homeless and broke in 2006.
Knockoffs are mass-produced by retailers. How else can they meet the demand of their customers while maintaining their low prices without overworking their workers and underpaying them? Many people are unaware that they have been indirectly supporting child labor by supporting fast-fashion retailers. Most retailers have been moving their clothing factories to Myanmar in recent years where the approximate yearly minimum wage is $401, one of the lowest in the world. Brands such as H&M and Gap have factories in Myanmar. In 2016, H&M factories in Myanmar were caught employing children as young as 14 that worked for more than 12 hours a day.
Spanish fashion chain Zara was accused if employing children as young as 14 in their clothing factories in Brazil. The factory workers were laboring under ‘slave-like conditions.’ They worked for more than 16 hours a day in ‘unsanitary and hazardous work environment’ and were not allowed to leave the windowless factories. They were reportedly paid between R$274 ($171) and R$460 ($288) a month, less than Brazil's legal minimum wage of R$545 ($341).
When we don’t have strict copyright laws governing creative industries, companies will take advantage of it. Stubblefield and Coleman would have made a fortune if stricter laws were enforced back in the early days. Child labor can be prevented, if not reduced. Copying is good but if it comes at the expense of destroying another person’s life, laws need to be reviewed and amended.