Photos via Botkier, Sears
Let’s be real here: The Kardashian family will put its name on anything you want them to, so long as you’re willing to wave a big enough check at them. As reality stars, that’s not necessarily a bad way to go about business – they seem fully aware that their shelf lives are short, and they’re socking away as much money as they can in the meantime. I know a lot of people seem to hold that against them, which I’ve never particularly understood. If someone was holding a check with lots of zeros and my name on it, I’d “spokesmodel” for any toothpaste, hair product or used car dealership that they might be shilling.
With that in mind, I doubt that Kim, Kourtney and Khloe had anything more than a passing involvement in their Kardashian Kollection (you can’t even make that up) for Sears, which was announced just a few days ago. But shame on whoever saw fit to add a nearly detail-for-detail knockff of the Botkier Clyde Bag to the line of short, tight dresses and jumpsuits.
When Botkier founder Monica Botkier emailed me these pictures a couple of days ago, I wash shocked. We’re all more than used to seeing cheap plastic imitations of designer bags at low-end retailers, but usually high-profile capsule lines are free of such obvious “inspiration.” How can a store or brand keep up the illusion (and it is entirely an illusion) that a piece was “designed” by a celebrity if it was so clearly designed by an independent accessories brand years ago?
Surely, Sears is banking on the fact that its customers either won’t have any idea where the design came from or won’t care, both of which are probably true. Still, though, it’s unfortunate when a big national chain stores that has the resources to design its own products instead decides to pick on a smaller brand that takes pride in its own creative work, particularly when the results of the design-pilfering are so widely publicized.
No comments:
Post a Comment