Penneys deny 'taking inspiration' from Irish designer
Penneys/Primark have denied "taking inspiration" from Irish designer, Zoel Carol Wong.
Dublin based designer, Zoe Carol Wong founded contemporary womenswear brand, Zoe Carol back in 2012.
Since it’s launch, the brand has gone from strength to strength and is currently stocked high profile stores such as the Kilkenny Shop, Atelier 27 and Só Collective.
Earlier this week, Carol received a photograph of a top in Penneys from a friend.
A top that she claims looks exactly like a top featured in her 2016 spring/summer collection.
See for yourself:
The image on the left is Carol’s design, the image on the right is the top currently stocked in Penneys.
Since then, the Galway-raised designer penned an open letter to the store claiming they clearly robbed her “intellectual property”.
She went on to say there is no law against what they did as there is no law protecting designers and makers from this kind of thing.
“I saw the ugly side of fashion”.
Although angry and upset over the fiasco, Zoe did say that it has made her “feel more determined to create and design things that people of all incomes want to buy”.
“Moral of the story?,” she signed the letter off.
“FUCK YOU PENNEYS but also you do you Penneys because this is life and life’s not fair”.
When contacted Penneys/Primark released this statement: “Primark’s team of designers take great pride in bringing its customers the latest trends at affordable prices.
The Primark buyers responsible for commissioning and developing the product in question were not familiar with Ms Wong’s company, or with its designs, and at no time took inspiration from them".
