Julie Finn
While checking out my blog list waiting for the coffee to brew, I found the following post on Whip Up—Rosar Pomar + Oilily: Blatant Ripoff?
Basically, a new product line from big company Oilily looks suspiciously similar, from fabric to shape to the smallest facial features, to an old product line that independent small crafter Rosa Pomar has been lovingly producing on her own for years.
The photo to the left is from the Oilily Summer of Love baby girl layette. The doll shown here is shockingly identical to the beautiful dolls that Pomar has been creating for years–see here for examples of her dolls from 2007.
Is this the future after the Consumer Product Safetey Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008 finally takes over next year? Will all large companies then feel free to steal ideas for the products that small, independent crafters can no longer afford to produce, and then make those products themselves, paying for the testing and getting them made in sweatshops and mass-marketing them to the public?
Looks like Oilily is getting a head start…
This is such an obvious copy of Rosa’s work.
she has her work and the entire process registated on her blog…since her first doll.
Oh, yeah–and it’s not like wholesaling the stuffies or even licensing her pattern for a time would kill them monetarily. Imagine how terrific that COULD have been for the indie craft scene!
I know nothing of corporate practices, of course, so I wonder if this is one person’s infringement that went unnoticed, or if this theft was condoned by the company itself?
If it were any less blatent, I know I might shrug a bit and say “great ideas…”, but this is so obviously a rip-off. I’ve emailed this to people I know and will personally not purchase anything with the Oilily name on it again. Shame on them.
This is horrible, and who knows if it’s not affecting other indie crafters?
I mean, just the other day, at Zara Home, i saw a doll very, very similar to one by Bla Bla Kids.
One thing i’ll certainly do is to never buy anything from a company who rips designer ideas off, and also e-mail the designers in question to let them know what’s going on!
indeed i never bought oilily products and i also won’t. simple as that.
the copies are horrible and awfully made and the lack of ethic is disgusting.
Wicked!!!! that is such an obvious rip off! It hurts my eyes to look at it! Rosa should sue them, no question.
Buckets of Slime, they are!
I used to like Oilily. Not anymore.
This is just crazy. I had been getting lots of feedback from people regarding the pirating of items from etsy here:
http://urbancraft.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/are-you-an-etsy-pirating-bootlegger-or-whatever-and-a-giveaway/
Thanks!
juste 1 word to say, boycott oilily ! it’s obvious that it’s a copy of Rosa !
DaddyTypes is getting this from Google Translator, mind you, but from what us non-Portuguese speakers can tell, it seems like good news for Pomar:
http://daddytypes.com/2009/04/18/score_one_for_the_little_bunny_bankruptcy_court_orders_oilily_to_remove_destroy_rosa_pomar_knockoff_bunnies.php