When Companies Cross the Line Between Inspiration and Stealing.

Young Designer Accuses Major Brand of Copying Her Application Project.

Article with Cecilia Monge, by Emma Golley

07.08.2021

Cecilia Monge first came to our attention on May 23rd 2021 when Diet Prada, an instagram account famous for calling out fashion copycats, posted Cecilia’s story. The post showed the young designer's TikTok video which had started to go viral, accusing Converse of copying her designs she had submitted to them as part of an internship application in 2019. 

Unfortunately ‘copycats’ in the industry are not abnormal (hence why Diet Prada has 2.7 million followers), and it is commonly known behind the scenes that brands have a habit of stealing designs from internship and interview applications as well as other designers.
Monge, a 22 year old designer, recently graduated from Florida State University with a Business Fashion Degree. She went on to learn the art of fashion design from YouTube, and dabbled in graphic design for a movie theater on her campus. When she spotted an internship at Converse in 2019 via an online careers portal, she sent in her application along with a pitch and an unassigned project. 

“My immediate reaction was disbelief”

Unfortunately, a whole year later, Cecilia received an automated rejection email. But it wasn’t until a couple of months ago that she noticed Converse’s recently released collection inspired by America’s great National Parks, looked strangely familiar…

“My immediate reaction was disbelief, I ran downstairs and opened up my computer to take another look at my original designs and it confirmed what I thought” Cecilia tells us.

Looking at the budding designers collection it’s easy to understand her reaction. Also inspired by the US National Parks, Cecilia designed several Converse Chuck 70’s that had an uncanny resemblance to not only the colors used in Converse’s new collection, but the patterns too.

“I contacted Converse immediately. After that they didn't respond. Two weeks went by, so I decided to make the TikTok. It wasn't until that video started gaining a lot of traction that Converse reached out, but they only responded to my original email, not the TikTok video.”

It was Monge’s TikTok video that immediately caught the attention of thousands of viewers and the media. In the video, Cecilia displays her designs side by side with Converse’s for direct comparison. She shows how she was inspired by the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, as well as the color palette which looks eerily similar to the palette Converse used. Neither of the styles can be purchased on the US site but they are available on the Australian site. 

“I am super surprised, I could not have ever in a million years anticipated this”

When asked how she felt about the vast attention she has received through her TikTok she answered, “I am super surprised, I could not have ever in a million years anticipated this. The video has 19.7 M views and 5.7 M likes. When I posted the video I had 100 something followers so I never knew that many people would see it.” 

Her only response from Converse was an email denying the sharing of her work across the company (which she shared with Fashion and the Free). The company claims their designers began the creative direction for this collection back in November 2018, with the shoe design initiated in April 2019. The first results of this collection launched in October 2020. Since the collection was such a big hit, they continued the line into 2021 under a design concept ‘Hybrid World’. The National Parks theme served as color inspiration across several of their lines for 2021.

Coincidence or not, Cecilia is certainly not the first designer to encounter this situation. Our recent survey revealed that 37.5% of respondents believe they’ve had designs stolen from projects they’ve submitted as part of job applications, with no monetary compensation. With little to no legal protection for students and professionals, job seekers are made vulnerable with every job application submitted. 

“The only way this will stop happening is if we shift the dynamic between customers and corporations. If people start valuing individual creators it'll be easier to hold large corporations accountable. It's hard to protect your designs because you need to submit work in order to get a job.” Monge says.

Designers find themselves stuck between this rock and hard place far too often. But of course, this dilemma is a complicated one to solve. As we all know, in this industry, almost all designs are inspired by others in some way - whether styles, themes, ideas, or even measurements. An important (but rarely discussed) distinction for both brands and designers to make is where do we draw the line between inspiration and stealing?

According to Cecilia, the answer to this is nuanced. “It has to do with timing, inspiration, and execution. [If you send artwork to a company, and the basis for their collection is the same and the way the inspiration is executed, aka lines and color, is the same - then that crosses the line.]” 
Certainly, closely mimicking an original idea from an unpaid job applicant would qualify as crossing the line.

Does Cecilia’s story sound familiar? If you have experienced a similar situation and want to share your story, get in touch! You will of course be given the option to remain anonymous.

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