Kiwi designer Bridie Hall was "deeply upset" when she saw a "poorly watered-down version" of her popular alphabet brush pots sold at clothing giant H&M as a scented candle holder.
Hall, who moved to London in 2001 after she graduated from Auckland design school Unitec, designed the brush pots in 2014 and has been making them in London with a "small, skilled and dedicated staff" since 2015.
The popular alphabet designs sell into boutiques around the world and Hall says they are "something I have worked immensely hard on and am very proud of".
BRIDIE HALL/ FACEBOOK
Bridie Hall's brush pot, left, and H&M's candle holder, right.
She believed H&M "stole" her design to make a cheap scented candle holder, made in China with the candle poured in Vietnam.
Hall wrote to the corporation on Monday (UK time) and published the email as an open letter on her Facebook page but did not hear back from the company. After Stuff contacted H&M about the issue, the company said it did not copy the design intentionally but was taking the matter seriously and were pulling the candles off the shelves.
ADVERTISEMENT
The products look very similar although the colours H&M used are different and they only sold two candle holders, one with the word "HI" on it, and the other with the word "LOVE" on it, rather than 26 recipients spelling the alphabet.
"They have the same components but everything's ever so slightly off," Hall said.
The alphabet brush pots are sold for £40 ($76); the H&M candle votives were sold for £8.99, in UK stores and online.
"I just felt sad, really sad. And immediately you think that's it. That's devalued everything. Thats wiped out all of the work I've done."
BRIDIE HALL/ FACEBOOK
Kiwi designer Bridie Hall moved to London in 2001 after she graduated from design school Unitec in Auckland.
Feeling powerless legally against the giant corporation, Hall complained about the company on her Facebook page.
"It's the beauty of social media: You can stick your head above the parapet," she said.
In the open letter, she wrote: "It's not only disappointing from the perspective of witnessing an enormous multi-national company yet again stealing a design from a tiny independent designer and profiting from it. But it's method of production also flies in the face of everything I work hard to promote and practice – locally assembled, handmade, sustainable, high quality."
Stuff received a statement from the head of marketing and communications for H&M's HOME section, Camilla Henriksson, on Wednesday morning.
She said H&M did not copy the designs intentionally but "we see the similarities between the products".
H&M
H&M says it will pull the candle holders off the shelves.
"We take this very seriously and have decided to remove the product from our assortment.
"We appreciate that Bridie Hall has pointed our attention to it and we will reach out to her", she says
"We have our own design teams that create our products and collections. We do not work with copying others."
Bridie said H&M's response to Stuff was "baffling".
"I look forward from hearing from them too."
She was happy H&M would be pulling the candles off the shelves but felt the company's attitude was still "brazen" as there had been no acknowledgement that they did something wrong.
H&M was accused of copying designs before.
In the most recent controversy, the corporation was accused of putting Gosha Rubchinskiy's signature gothic font styling on H&M T-shirts, hoodies, and socks.
It has also been accused of copying big designers including Celine, Balenciaga and Kenzo.
BRIDIE HALL/ FACEBOOK
Bridie Hall's alphabet brush pots are popular in design boutiques around the world.
"Big fashion brands rip off small ones all the time, the most prolific offenders being fast-fashion companies, whose entire business model revolves around copying trends and bringing them to market quickly," Vox reported last year.
In her open letter, Hall wrote H&M candles would cause long-lasting damage to her sales and cause "great stress for a small business like ours".
"It puts under threat the relationships I have built between my company and my stockists and compromises my reputation with my customers, who will recognise this design as mine and think that I had a part to play in its compromised design and method of mass production."
She wrote that seeing such a similar version of her own design on H&M's shelves was inconsistent with the company's publicly-held values, which promote quality, respect, openness and honesty.
"I want to ask you; do you not feel that these values and guidelines should not also be extended towards the wider design community and the treatment of their intellectual property?"
Hall said she would still like to get an answer to her question from H&M.
