How to Protect Your Clothing Brand

00:00 – 00:04 Welcome to the Designer’s Plants and Coffee podcast where we discuss how to succeed as a designer 00:04 – 00:09 while staying true to yourself, finding peace in the process, and making money doing what we 00:09 – 00:12 love. Subscribe on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast. 00:12 – 00:18 We get a lot of questions about how to protect your work, and I will say it’s almost impossible 00:18 – 00:24 to keep that from happening because if you look at a major designer and then you look at the 00:24 – 00:29 stuff that’s in a fast fashion house, it’s all the same thing. The difference is the quality 00:29 – 00:36 of it. Protecting your design is a whole different topic from protecting your brand. So if somebody 00:36 – 00:41 were to come out with Fearless threads and they were to have script intact and the needle running 00:41 – 00:46 through it, then I would have an issue because they’re copying my brand. But if somebody were 00:46 – 00:53 to take the jacket I made and make it and not use the materials I use and sell it for $60 where 00:53 – 00:58 I sell mine for $200. There’s nothing I can do about it. Because let’s face it, we’re all inspired 00:58 – 01:03 by other art, other people, other things that we see. So I don’t believe that imitation is the 01:03 – 01:08 best form of flattery because my work is my work, but you just kinda have to take it with a 01:08 – 01:08 grain of salt. 01:08 – 01:14 Also, your intellectual property, meaning your brand, you have to protect at all costs. So once 01:14 – 01:18 you become established and you building your brand, you have to get a trademark. I mean, I wouldn’t 01:18 – 01:23 say you do that right away because it can get expensive. When you know that this is what you’re 01:23 – 01:28 gonna do and this is the way you’re going forward, protect your brand. I saw something on Instagram, 01:28 – 01:34 like, recently. There was this woman who basically got her stuff made overseas, and she didn’t 01:34 – 01:39 have her thing trademarked. So the factory researched it Mhmm. Saw that she didn’t have her 01:39 – 01:44 thing trademarked and actually trademarked her name. Her is because she already had this stuff 01:44 – 01:50 in the market and she can prove it. But it cost her a whole bunch of money, bunch of time, lawyers 01:50 – 01:55 back and forth. So your intellectual property, you have to protect. Your designs, honestly, 01:55 – 01:59 it’s a dime a dozen. You just have to move forward. Put it out fast. Get with your get your 01:59 – 02:00 money and move on. 02:00 – 02:06 There is no law in the US to protect your designs. However, when you go overseas to Europe, 02:06 – 02:08 they have laws to protect designs. 02:08 – 02:09 Mhmm. 02:09 – 02:15 So please do not try to go over there, have a design, and you try to, knock something off over 02:15 – 02:21 there. You will get sued. Even if you are a US based designer, you will get sued. But in the 02:21 – 02:23 US, it’s a free for all. 02:23 – 02:28 Everybody knows the 3 stripes, Adidas. So in the industry, a lot of people wanna copy that, 02:28 – 02:32 especially the the discounters. Mhmm. Want to copy the Adidas because, you know, it’s a recognizable 02:32 – 02:37 symbol. They trademark that, and they go after people who use the 3 stripe. Nobody can use the 02:37 – 02:42 3 stripes in that order, those sizes, those distances away from each other because you will get sued. 02:42 – 02:48 It’s the same thing with licensed products too. So you can’t take your favorite sport team and 02:48 – 03:03 make something out of the fabric the commercial use. And they have a team that sits on places 03:03 – 03:13 like Etsy and Shopify and Facebook, cannot afford it. Everyone knows about the Rothlawn Polo 03:13 – 03:15 cannot afford it. 03:15 – 03:21 Everyone knows about the Ralph Lauren Polo brand. Well, there’s another brand that is, US Polo 03:21 – 03:27 Association, and then it took them nearly decades because Ralph Lauren went after them for trademark 03:27 – 03:32 infringement. So now if you all ever see the US Polo Association, they still have the horse, 03:32 – 03:35 but they don’t have just 1 polo player. They have, like, 2. 03:35 – 03:35 Sorry, guys. 03:35 – 03:41 Thing was just because everyone was thinking this was the same thing, and it’s not. Also with 03:41 – 03:45 the Christian Louboutin, the, red bottoms, they came out with this shoe that was all red and 03:45 – 03:50 the bottom of the sole was red. Christian Louboutin tried to sue for the red bottoms. Well, 03:50 – 03:55 he lost that suit because there was nothing special about the red paint, and he just put it 03:55 – 04:01 on the bottom of the sole. However, someone else would try to put their packaging the same color 04:01 – 04:06 blue and the same little white, white bow as Tiffany. Their packaging, all of that is actually 04:06 – 04:12 protected it under trademark and packaging. So if Christian Louboutin had actually had some 04:12 – 04:18 type of special packaging with the red sole in the bar, he may have been able to get away with 04:18 – 04:21 that, but, hey, it’s just red paint on the bottom of his sole. 04:21 – 04:25 Didn’t he go back and create a custom paint after that? So you can paint the bottom of your 04:25 – 04:32 shoe red, but you can’t use paint number x y z from Yeah. Wherever he gets it from. So, yeah, 04:32 – 04:37 he he learned his lesson from that and said, okay. I can’t tell them they can’t make red bottoms, 04:37 – 04:40 but I can tell them they can’t make my red bottom. So Right. 04:40 – 04:44 And there was also this thing on Instagram going back and forth. I know Nike was going after 04:44 – 04:50 a lot of independent sneaker makers because they were using the Air Force 1, mold to make their 04:50 – 04:54 own sneaker. But, I mean, they changed it and put their their logo on it. But in fact, it was 04:54 – 05:00 still just the Air Force 1 mold. And everybody knows how famous the Air Force 1 is. So have 05:00 – 05:05 to change it enough so that it’s your own. You know, I think the the lawyers, you cannot mistake 05:05 – 05:10 it. If you just look at it and you automatically think it’s that brand, then they have means 05:10 – 05:14 to come after you. You have to change it enough so that you’re not competing with the original. 05:14 – 05:17 You can trademark anything you want. I mean, sometimes it goes through. Sometimes it doesn’t. 05:17 – 05:21 Right. But it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the resources to go after anybody. Right. So 05:21 – 05:26 you have to really be aware of what you’re trademarking. I mean, your name, absolutely. But 05:26 – 05:30 when you start trademarking, like, items like the 3 stripes, the the plaid, the red bottoms, 05:30 – 05:35 that kind of stuff, you have to have the resources to actually go after the people to back yourself 05:35 – 05:38 up. Yes. Otherwise, people gonna knock you off and you can’t do anything about it. You know? 05:38 – 05:41 And when I’m talking about resources, I mean money for lawyers 05:41 – 05:47 to You even need to pay somebody to sit like Nike does or like the NFL does all day and search 05:47 – 05:52 through all of these places to see if somebody is using your thing. That costs money. 05:52 – 05:57 The other side of it is copywriting. You know? And a lot of people ask if you wanna copyright 05:57 – 06:01 your art. If you’re an artist, if you paint and stuff like that, if you have original pieces 06:01 – 06:05 and you start to produce it, yes, you can copyright that stuff. But when you start putting, 06:05 – 06:10 like, graphics on t shirts and stuff, in terms of money and time, it’s not necessarily worth 06:10 – 06:16 it because next season, you wanna do something else. So copywriting is a little bit less protective, 06:16 – 06:21 honestly, than trademarking. And when you start to get into graphics, not unless it’s very specific. 06:21 – 06:25 It really doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make sense to financially if you’re starting out. Now if 06:25 – 06:30 you’re like a big brand and, you know, you’re doing something, like, original, unique yes. Okay. 06:30 – 06:34 Fine. You have the resources to do that. But if you’re just like an independent and you you 06:34 – 06:38 don’t wanna put your artwork out there just because, you know, you feel somebody gonna take 06:38 – 06:39 it? No. They’re gonna take it anyway. 06:39 – 06:44 It’s it’s so funny because I do a lot of pop ups and I meet a lot of people. And there is a 06:44 – 06:50 woman at this pop up I was doing was selling this specific t shirt with a specific word that 06:50 – 06:56 another person uses. And I was like, I don’t think that’s the original girl, but I’ll buy 1. 06:56 – 06:59 You know? I’m gonna support. And I was talking to my sister. She’s like, you know, that’s not 06:59 – 07:04 the original girl. I was like, I didn’t think so because it was, a, it was cheap. But what she 07:04 – 07:11 did is she took those same words and she changed the font, and she put this little teeny logo 07:11 – 07:15 at the bottom. And that was her 25%. So it could be something as simple as that. 07:15 – 07:20 That’s one thing that you can trademark because inside the site, that is the lining that I always 07:20 – 07:24 use, and it has to be a certain color, but you can trademark that, you know, that specific thing. 07:24 – 07:28 And it’s it’s a whole slew of ways you have to prove that this is yours. 07:29 – 07:36 Making sure you do your research. And I say that because I sell a few things on Amazon. Before 07:36 – 07:43 I’m submitting these my graphic and my artwork, it actually goes through a system of Amazon 07:43 – 07:48 checking to make sure that whatever I’ve created, they check the trademark to make sure that 07:48 – 07:53 I’m not posting anything on their site that will get flagged. And then as a result, they they 07:53 – 08:00 would sue me. And they will actually send you the website to go to, US trademark so you could 08:00 – 08:04 check it for yourself. Make sure when you’re researching that the trademark that you’re looking 08:04 – 08:10 for is for a powerful, whatever your type you’re trying to sell. Because someone could have 08:10 – 08:12 the same name, but they have a completely different product. 08:12 – 08:17 Right. Because when I first started, I did the same thing. And there was a company in the Midwest, 08:18 – 08:23 called Fearless Threads. Their logo was different, and they sold t shirts. So I’m like, so if 08:23 – 08:28 they sell t shirts and I sell this, can we have the same thing? Our logos were completely different. 08:28 – 08:33 They can’t sue me for stealing words. Now if I had a T shirt brand called Fearless Threats, 08:33 – 08:38 they could say, hey. We’ve been in business since 19 whatever, and you just started, and you 08:38 – 08:40 have to stop using that name. So 08:40 – 08:45 And I have a, like, a similar story because when I had Cover Me Chic, someone else had the name 08:45 – 08:49 in there. I think there was something like baby club. But at the time, you know, I was denied 08:49 – 08:53 the first, you know, but then they did not renew the year of any 08:53 – 08:53 more. Thing. Yeah. 08:53 – 08:58 A year later, I was able to trademark that name. So you have to renew I think it was every 10 08:58 – 09:02 years, the first time, then it’s every 5 years, but you have to stay on top of your intellectual 09:02 – 09:06 property. I I did it through a lawyer. You can do it yourself. It’s a lot more tedious. 09:06 – 09:11 We all live in major cities, but there is an organization in DC called the Washington Area Lawyers 09:11 – 09:17 for Artists, w a l a, something to that effect. And they specifically work with artists as their 09:17 – 09:22 counsel. Some of it is pro bono. You may have to pay something, but you can always go there 09:22 – 09:27 and get information. You go to small business administration and get information. There are 09:27 – 09:32 resources out there where you can start for cheap or free. Heck, call the Patent and Trademark 09:32 – 09:37 Office. Right. People sit there all day long waiting for you to ask them questions. It’s just 09:37 – 09:43 like taxes. Call IRS if you can’t afford a CPA and say, hey. How am I gonna not get in trouble? 09:43 – 09:46 There are instances out there. It’s just gonna take patience and research. 09:46 – 09:49 Yeah. And that’s the thing. It’s like, if you don’t have the money, you’re gonna have to have 09:49 – 09:54 the time. One more thing about the trademark. When you trademark the US patent is US patent 09:54 – 09:59 and trademark. Yes. And it’s only trademarked in the US. Now if you start selling stuff overseas, 10:00 – 10:04 you have to trademark it to wherever you’re selling your product because somebody over there 10:04 – 10:09 might have the same name. And because the Internet is so global now, it’s interesting how you 10:09 – 10:13 might have the same name as somebody else selling the same product, but it’s not trademarked 10:13 – 10:18 in that country. Don’t let anything stop you. You know? Don’t let anything stop you from moving 10:18 – 10:23 forward with what you need to do or what you wanna do. We’re just saying the steps that you 10:23 – 10:27 need to take before you start putting yourself out there, but put it out there anyway. Protect 10:27 – 10:31 your intellectual property because that’s the most important, but designs are a dime a dozen. 10:31 – 10:35 We take inspiration from everywhere. Oh, I don’t wanna do this because somebody’s gonna steal 10:35 – 10:40 it. It’s already been stolen. Okay. So that was it. I hope we got something out of this. If 10:40 – 10:45 you have any questions about it, we can answer it to the best of our ability, but you do need 10:45 – 10:51 to speak to a lawyer, a trademark lawyer, specifically, intellectual property lawyers so that 10:51 – 10:53 they can guide you in the right direction. 10:53 – 10:58 All right. So that’s all for now. I’m Leticia Winston and keeping your stitches with as I hear 10:58 – 11:05 it Cover Me Chic in Regent Design Agency and Naima Dozier of Feelers threads. Until next time.