Knock It Off: A History of Design Piracy in the US Women's Ready-to-Wear Apparel Industry

The ready-to-wear apparel industry thrives on creating a presumably original design that is then interpreted into copies. Called design piracy by some and the knock-off process by most in the industry, copying fashion designs is a firmly embedded business strategy that predates even the advent of women's ready-to-wear in the late nineteenth century. Historically, some industry organizations and individual designers accepted and supported copying as crucial to the transmission of fashion; ot...