A social media stitch-up?

Embroiderer Hannah Hill- photography by Joanna Kiely @jofanna

Social media has given artists and designers a platform to advertise their work, in a way previous generations could have only dreamed of. These days you don’t need an agent and a pile of cash to get publicity. Now, you can create, upload a photo, and it’s shown to audiences around the world.

But this level of accessibility can come at a price.

Over the last few years, a David versus Goliath saga has emerged as big companies have been accused of plagiarism by independent artists. A few months ago, Zara was called out for allegedly 'ripping off' designers’ ideas. Now the high street giant, Topshop, has also been accused.

Hannah Hill, (known as @Hanecdote online) is a 22-year-old embroiderer from North London. She built up her social media following selling patches through her blog.

Hill’s profiles detail her personal life and beliefs; she posts selfies in her underwear, showing off cellulite and pubic hairs. She writes posts on Instagram about mental health, smoking weed, and chilling with her beloved cat, Mew.

Her work went viral when she recreated the famous Arthur hand clenched meme in sewn form. She accompanied the image with a feminist message: "When you remember that historically, embroidery hasn’t been taken seriously as a medium because it’s ‘women’s work’.’’ The post currently has 180,000 combined likes on Twitter and Instagram.

This strong reaction was overwhelming for a young woman primarily working from her bedroom but it gave her a sense of self-belief in her art form. "It encouraged a lot of conversations and articles about embroidery and the history of its exclusion from the art world. I hope I changed a lot of people’s perceptions of embroidery," she said.

Hannah Hill's embroidery portraying her life in North London and personal interests @hanecdote

Despite social media helping to raise her profile and start her business, Hill alleges that big brands have stolen her work. She claims that one of her designs was duplicated in 2013, after her work went viral on Tumblr: "It was amazing to get my stuff out there, but negative because some lazy people think just because something is online it’s up for grabs...I can’t go into details, but a leading high street shop used one of my images as part of a print on a kids t-shirt."

More recently she has accused Topshop of selling socks with a similar design to her ‘Halloween Queen’ sewn patch. Topshop has declined to comment about the case, but have confirmed that their customer care department are now in direct contact with Hill about her design.

Instead of staying silent, Hill has used her platform to the best of her advantage. She said: "Social media is my best friend in situations like this, because I can make a post calling out companies and have the support of loyal followers who share their outrage with the brands."

Sally Thomas is from Crafts in Focus, an organisation which brings together homemade brands to exhibit around the country. She believes that artists should react to these alleged incidents in the same way Hill has. Thomas said: "Where designs of individual makers have been copied by a larger brand, there has, in the past been a huge backlash on social media about some cases which actually raises the profile of the smaller maker."

Unknown designers can potentially gain free publicity from these cases, and sympathy from their loyal followers on social media. In recent months claims against big brands have skyrocketed. Over 20 independent artists have made allegations on ShopArtTheft.com, a website detailing these alleged intellectual property infringements. None of the designers have signed art licensing agreements, which are the standard way of compensating an artist to use their work for commercial purposes.

The fast-fashion brand, Zara, has faced criticism for allegedly copying the designs of multiple artists, including the independent illustrator and designer Tuesday Bassen. Bassen went to Twitter to post side-by-side comparisons of her pin designs next to Zara’s, writing "You know what? Sometimes it sucks to be an artist because companies like Zara consistently rip you off and deny it."

The artist contacted Zara with a lawyer about the alleged copies. According to Bassen’s posts, she was told that her designs were not distinctive enough to be associated with her. Zara’s lawyer said that notifications about the copies amounted to a "handful of complaints" in comparison with the monthly traffic on Zara and Bershka, a store owned by the same parent company.

fundamental. reached out to Zara for a comment but they did not respond. However, a representative of Zara’s parent company, Inditex, told Buzzfeed that the company "respects any third party’s creativity and takes all claims concerning third party intellectual property rights very seriously".

But do craft businesses feel that social media is just one big stitch up? In a survey conducted by fundamental. over 80 per cent of craft retailers said the threat of plagiarism wouldn’t stop them from sharing design ideas online.

This is supported by a study through the Crafts Council, which found around one third of UK makers and retailers have been selling online since 2011. This percentage has grown, albeit slowly in the face of decreasing sales at galleries, shops and craft fairs. The synchronisation of social media with e-commerce has stimulated online retail. While the proportion of craft business revenues from online sales remains small in comparison to more traditional outlets, its significance is growing.

One of these businesses benefitting from social media is Tilly and the Buttons, a sewing pattern making company based in South London, founded by Tilly Walnes, after she appeared on the Great British Sewing Bee. Walnes believes the positives of social media still outweigh the potential risks for her company. She said: "Discovering sewing blogs over seven years ago is what inspired me to get into sewing." She finds social media the best way to interact with her customers. "The maker community inspires me on a daily basis; it’s so empowering to come up with an idea in your head, make it with your own hands, and then share it online to inspire other people to get creative too."

Social media may be a positive tool for businesses, but some retail analysts believe companies still aren’t using it to the best of their advantage. Andrew Busby is a retail consultant and founder of the Retail Advisory Board. He thinks social media should be at the heart of every retail operation but that this sadly isn’t the case yet. "Social is the best way of not only interacting and engaging with customers but also to listen to what they have to say. We are only just scraping the surface of the potential for social in brand engagement," he said.

Artists can safeguard themselves by copyrighting their work. Lukasz Zelezny is a social media expert who thinks craft brands should always seek legal advice to avoid plagiarism online. Zelezny said: "Have mutual confidentiality and trademarks in place so that you can take action should this happen. It’s also worth publishing your work with your logo on it, as this will prevent many forms of digital theft."

It’s quite simple. However, to actively enforce it is another thing. In a world of free exhibition space, online big and small designers may never be able to ensure their work is identifiably different from whatever else is out there.

Retail strategist, Jeanel Alvarado, believes the global nature of the internet makes duplication inevitable, even with safeguarding measures such as copyright. "It’s one thing to try to avoid plagiarism in your own city and another to avoid it from around the globe. If a business wants to copyright or trademark they will have to do that in every country, it can become very expensive, very fast."

Alvarado feels that without social media these businesses may not be successful. "It’s nearly impossible to make sufficient margins on handmade goods if the cost of goods and labour was taken into account for pricing. It’s sustainable in that it’s a market driven by people with passions, less about generating revenues for a sustainable business."

Although social media gave Hannah Hill a way to express herself and show her art around the world, she claims it has also increased her vulnerability to copycats. Not only did alleged duplications of her designs impact Hill financially, it also affected her depression. "I felt hugely deflated, and had a sense of what is the point in making anything if a big company can come along and take it with little to no justice served. It’s still frustrating to this day, but I try to remain calm because dealing with that case in 2013 really affected my depression and self-worth."

David isn’t always right and Goliath can be wrong. Whatever happens with these disputes the craft industry needs to take advantage of the potential of social media to reach new customers. But with careful guidelines put in place to prevent tangled threads.

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