Forever 21 shamed over T-shirt design
Latest rip-off allegations against fast-fashion brand discouraging
Zoila Darton and Angela Carrasco felt sad about the state of women’s rights in the United States, and they decided to channel some of their frustration into action.
With the defunding of Planned Parenthood in the daily news, Darton and Carrasco wanted to do something on the organization’s behalf. Darton enlisted her husband, a graphic designer, and together they played around with the idea of a benefit T-shirt design. They came up with a shirt with the word “woman” written in several languages, black type marching down a white background.
Darton and Carrasco aren’t fashion designers. They’re partners in the Word Agency, a marketing and public-relations firm. The shirt was a side project. “It was a creative outlet,” Darton said.
Carrasco said, “We wanted to do something to kind of protect ourselves and protect Planned Parenthood.”
They placed a small order for the shirts in early July and publicized them on social media and through friends, planning to donate a portion of the proceeds to Planned Parenthood. “Of course, we hoped it would turn into something, and it has,” Carrasco said. “Unfortunately the reason is not necessarily the brightest.”
Last week, they were meeting with a customer who wanted to exchange her shirt for a different size. “As we were leaving, she was like, ‘Yeah, I’m so glad I bought this one because I saw the other one in Forever 21 and I love yours so much better!’ We were like, ‘What do you mean?’ ” Darton said.
Searching the retailer’s website, they spotted the shirt. Forever 21 was also selling a tee with “woman” spelled out in different languages, in black type in a vertical line down a white front.
They posted a side-by-side comparison on Instagram, taking care not to explicitly accuse the fastfashion behemoth. By the next morning, the post was shared not only by fashion editors but also by leftleaning people outside the industry, along with the tired eye roll: It looked as if Forever 21 had copied the work of an independent designer.
This felt as familiar as an old knock-off purse. Back in 2011, Jezebel documented 50 complaints against the clothing store. (Its Forever 21 story stash runs deep.)
Earlier this month, Freckled Ace accused the brand of ripping off its tribal-print tank top; last month, the gender-bending boutique brand Wildfang complained when its slogan, “Wild Feminist,” appeared on a T-shirt sold by Forever 21. And in May, Valfré fired off a cease-and-desist letter when it believed its rainbow iPhone cases were being replicated.
Less than18 hours after Darton and Carrasco posted the comparison, Forever 21removed its version of the shirt from its website.
“I follow Valfré, and I’ve bought some of her stuff,” Darton said. “I saw the Wildfang thing. I’ve known this is a thing, so when it happened I wasn’t totally surprised. I was surprised by how quickly they did it.”
In a statement to the New York Times, Forever 21 said, “The shirt in question was bought from a third-party source. As soon as Forever 21 was alerted to the issue, we respectfully removed it from our website. Because this product did not have trademark or IP protections, there were no red flags raised at the time of purchase.”
Darton said that the company’s apology was not an apology but “an admission of guilt.” She feels grateful that she and Carrasco aren’t designers by trade; they didn’t lose revenue here, only the opportunity to give to Planned Parenthood. “We live in a corporate society — what can we do? What can these designers do?”
A designer’s path of less resistance may be to send a cease-and-desist letter or hope for a hefty settlement. (“They build those settlements into their business structure,” Scafidi said.)