As some LBB supporters may have seen on my Facebook page yesterday, a lululemon store in Centery City Philadelphia featured a poorly-designed rip-off of my Rock On design in their window display. If you missed it, here’s a side-by-side comparison of my design and the rip-off.
I was notified of this situation by Corey Everett, an extraordinarily talented designer from Philly. Recognizing the design (and its poor replication), Corey snapped a photo of the window display and emailed it to me.
This isn’t the first that my work has been used, modified, ripped-off without my consent. In fact, it seems like it’s a rite of passage for up-and-coming designers to have their work stolen. However, virtually all of the previous instances of stolen art work occurred with other “designers” and their online shops. Yesterday’s incident involved a major retail chain – which, as you could imagine, got my blood boiling a bit more than usual.
I did what other artists have done – I took my grievance to the internet! I published that Facebook post along with a few tweets which some folks noticed and then kindly shared (THANK YOU!!) their mutual attitude toward stolen art work.
Lo and behold around 5:30pm, I received an email from a lulullemon east coast community rep. In the email, she said she had seen my tweets and asked if I had a few minutes to discuss the issue at hand. We agreed to a phone call early this morning. Remember kids, it’s better to be a diplomat than a dickhead.
Sure enough, my phone rang this morning and we had a 15 minute conversation. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version of the call:
Me: What happened here?
Lululemon Rep: We’re very sorry about this. A Philly store employee saw your design on Pinterest and thought it would be OK to use it to promote an upcoming Rock and Roll half-marathon.
Me: Yeah but that’s definitely NOT OK.
Lululemon Rep: Agree 100%. As soon as I saw your tweets, the store was contacted and then display was taken down immediately.
Me: Doesn’t the chain have a process in place for window displays?
Lululemon Rep: Not really. Each store does their own thing re: displays.
Me: You should recommend a company-wide policy that ensures that employees don’t steal artwork from designers in the future. It’s simply unacceptable. How about working WITH local artists to do the work?
Lululemon Rep: This incident will spur some policy changes. Again, I apologize.
Me: Sounds like an honest mistake but please do something to ensure that this doesn’t happen to other artists.
Lululemon Rep: Will do.
Me: Good day, madam!
So there it is – a prompt, believable explanation from an official company rep. I believe that it was an honest mistake. In fact, I think it’s great that lululemon gives each store the creative freedom to design their own window displays. However, it’s not great that there’s no basic do’s-and-don’ts about what can be used in those window displays. C’mon lululemon, get it together!
(Soapbox session commencing in 3…2…1…)
I really hope that lululemon and other stores get their act together when it comes to procuring artwork – whether it’s for window displays or actual merchandise. Over the years, I’ve seen numerous designers have their work used without consent or compensation. And quite frankly, it’s bullshit and it needs to stop.
If you’re doing creative work for a company – small, medium, large, mega-large, etc. – DON’T STEAL FROM THEM, WORK WITH THEM. The end result will only lead to good things for everyone involved.