Daily Times

Accusations Zara “copied” the designs of more than 20 independent designers have sparked an online backlash with shoppers threatening to boycott the brand.

The accusations first came to light on Wednesday, when designer Tuesday Bassen, shared an Instagram post with a statement she claimed her lawyer received from Zara in response to a copyright claim.

Another artist, Adam J Kurtz, decided to catalogue examples of independent designers, who had spotted ‘copies’ of their designs in Zara. All-in-all, he cited 42 examples on his website Shop Art Theft.

Adama J Kurtz told The Huffington Post UK, We’d just like an admission of wrongdoing from Zara, even if it needs to be blamed on “foreign suppliers” or however they’ll spin it. Forty-two apparent cases in one year is not a mistake. Treat us, the artists and also any human person with the gift of eyesight, with a little respect. Of course we also deserve rightful compensation for our work. It would have certainly been cheaper to commission or license artwork directly from one or two of the artists in question. What could have been a cool brand campaign about supporting independent artists is instead a case of alleged copyright infringement to their history as a company.

The only UK artist currently implicated is Maria Ines Gul, an illustrator from London. A spokesperson for Inditex – the company that owns Zara – told HuffPost UK, Inditex has the utmost respect for the individual creativity of all artists and designers and takes all claims concerning third party intellectual property rights very seriously.

Inditex was recently contacted by the lawyers of artist Tuesday Bassen, who noted the use of illustrations in some badges sourced externally and on clothes in its Group stores. The company immediately opened an investigation into the matter and suspended the relevant items from sale. Inditex’s legal team is also in contact with Bassen’s lawyers to clarify and resolve the situation as swiftly as possible.

We are also currently investigating other allegations of illustrations used on badges provided by external suppliers on a case by case basis. Following Bassen’s Instagram post Instagram and Twitter, users started to share messages with the hashtag #boycottzara.

However, Kurtz said he doesn’t support a boycott of the brand. “I can’t speak for any of the artists but myself, I think it’s a little bit silly.