The Functionality Doctrine: Utilitarian and Aesthetic Functionality Explained
A brand can build a famous look around a feature that also does useful work. A red sole helps a shoe stand out on…
Levi v Abercrombie: How a Back Pocket Design Set a Precedent in Trademark Law
Since 1873, Levi’s has held on to their iconic back pocket design, also known as the ‘Arcuate’ design. It is a design pattern with…
The First Sale Doctrine: What Fashion and Beauty Brands Can and Cannot Control After a Sale
A brand sells a lipstick, a handbag or a jacket, and the sale is supposed to end its control over that particular item. Few…
Body Without Consent: Virtual Try-On, Biometric Body-Scanning, and the Blind Spot in India’s DPDP Regime
Introduction A shopper browsing a fashion e-commerce platform uploads a full-body photograph to visualise how a garment might fit before purchase. Within seconds, the…
How to Get Signed by a Modeling Agency: What the Contract Should Say
Getting signed feels like the finish line, but the contract that follows decides how the next few years will go. A model’s agreement sets…
Fast Fashion’s Environmental Impact: The Data Behind the New Laws
Fast fashion depends on speed and volume, and the environmental bill for both has grown faster than most consumers realise. Between 2000 and 2015,…
From Prompt to Polyester: Regulating AI-Generated Fashion Imagery under Indian Consumer Protection Law
In fashion e-commerce, consumers cannot physically inspect garments before purchase and therefore depend on digital product information, including product imagery, to assess their appearance,…
New York’s Child Model Act: What the 2013 Law Requires of Agencies, Brands and Parents
Until November 2013, a model under 18 in New York could walk a runway or sit for a print campaign with fewer legal protections…
The Coogan Law in California: How a 1939 Statute Protects Child Earnings
Few laws carry a person’s name as much as the Coogan Law. It takes its title from Jackie Coogan, the child actor whose earnings…
Beyond the Scent: Chanel No. 5 and the Legal Protection of Iconic Perfume Bottle Designs in the EU
Protecting product packaging in the luxury fashion and beauty industries is increasingly important, to the point that packaging itself contributes to brand recognition and…
Child Modeling: Coogan Accounts, Work Permits and Parents’ Rights
A child who signs a modeling contract enters the workforce, and the law treats that work seriously. In California and New York, a child…
Celebrity Fashion Brands: Contracts, Licensing and Why Some Fail
A celebrity fashion brand can look like one business and turn out to be several contracts stacked together. A name, a face, a design…
Sustainable Fashion Jobs: Roles, Skills and Where to Find Them
Sustainable fashion has moved from marketing copy into the operations of large companies, and that shift has created work. Brands now need people who…
Modeling Portfolio: What to Include and Who Owns the Photos
A modeling portfolio does two jobs at once. It shows agencies and clients what a model looks like on camera, and it carries a…
The CMA’s New Fining Power: What the UK’s DMCC Act Means for Fashion Brands
For most of its history, the UK’s consumer regulator could not fine a business for a consumer law breach without first going to court.…
Vans v. MSCHF: Why Parody Sneakers Lost on Appeal
In April 2022, the art collective MSCHF sold 4,306 pairs of a warped Vans Old Skool lookalike in about an hour. Twenty months later,…
PFAS in Clothing: Which Laws Now Ban “Forever Chemicals” in Fashion
On 10 October 2026, a new EU-wide limit on the PFAS chemical PFHxA began to apply to clothing and footwear. It joins bans already…