Comments on: Did Chico’s rip me off?

By: Karyn

Karyn — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:48:26 +0000

Your sweater and the Chico’s sweater are very similar, but anyone in retail design will tell you that the Chico’s sweater was designed and sent to the factories for production at least a year before it was available in stores. Even the quickest factories can’t turn around a design and have it in stores within a 6 month period.

Your sweater is much nicer than the Chico’s version, though.

By: Nikol

Nikol — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:40:27 +0000

Yeah, that’s why I gave myself about a day to be huffy & then I dropped it. Whining a bit on my blog is about as far as I’m willing to go. And really, I’m perfectly fine with ripoffs in the other direction (individuals copying big chain stores’ stuff).

I wonder if I would have reacted differently if it was a store I actually liked instead of my best friend’s retiree mom’s favorite store…. :)

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:55:02 +0000

Oh, it is most certainly NOT a Chico’s kind of day!

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:25:45 +0000

I suppose that if you don’t have an attorney to send a letter and launch proceedings if necessary the question is kind of beside the point. But it does suck that they are doing that. Your pattern is great and I do plan to make it sometime soon, as opposed to visiting my neighborhood Chico’s to buy a crappy knock-off.

By: Nikol

Nikol — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 21:14:20 +0000

I couldn’t find the knitter’s pattern you’re talking about on ravelry, but I only went back as far as 2006 before deciding to give it a rest. I did find a loose-fitting long-sleeved mosaic jacket from ’09 (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/floating-checks), but aside from 2-tone mosaic, it looks nothing like this, so that’s probably not what you meant.

I’m not talking about the stitch pattern–honeycomb’s pretty standard fare–it’s the overall design–the combination of pattern, fit, cut & style.

I realize there’s nothing new under the sun and that everyone draws from everyone else–I never would have written my pattern if I didn’t love vintage kiddie sweaters and want a clingy update of one for myself–but this does strike me too close for coincidence not to note.

By: Patty

Patty — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:36:38 +0000

I have seen this pattern in knitters a year or so back. Your does look nicer.This pattern comes up for air every so often.

Patty

By: Christy

Christy — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:26:06 +0000

Seriously? That’s not cool that they did that! :(

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:47:05 +0000

Well, if that isn’t just the greatest coincidence ever! The hand knitted ones are so much more charming though!

By: CTJen

CTJen — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:29:47 +0000

That’s how fashion works, everybody rips off everybody else. It’s why what’s in fashion is always changing and designers are always innovating. I urge you to watch the TED talk by Johanna Blakly in which she talks about about how the culture of copying in fashion others establishes trends.

http://blog.ted.com/2010/05/25/lessons_from_fa/

So yeah, really.