Chitra Sahay
The article reflects the evolution, formation and significance of fashion law due to globalization. Change is inevitable, change is constant. As part of the ongoing changes, fashion industry has developed a stalwart linkage with the global economy. But, despite of being a player in the global market, the impact of counterfeiting of goods is often overlooked. This paper throws a light on the how the development of fashion industry resulted in emergence of fashion law and identifies the role of globalization in both subjects.
INTRODUCTION
Fashion is most associated to clothing, but it even applies to hairstyles, footwear, bags, accessories, body art and beauty products. One main impact of globalization is that people are aware about the trends in fashion through old and new media like television, newspaper, internet and so on. A particular trend can be coined as fashion, but whether it is acceptable or not depends on the individual such as her culture, adaptability for the trends and the freshness or nostalgia associated with the style. The fashion industry is a major part of the economy which generates large revenue, the globalization of fashion continues to enact a consequential role in the economic growth of the countries. Globalization of fashion means globalization of culture, traditions, custom, influence and heritage. For countries in Europe and North America, people know how to drape a saree which is considered as the traditional attire in India. This reflects how the countries have mirrored the cultures of others and how fashion has spread across the globe. As countries were adapting different cultures, fashion shows and fashion weeks were being born across the globe. From Charles Frederick Worth who must be credited to start fashion designing in true sense and have his own label to luxury brands like Givenchy, Chanel, Prada, Dior all helmed by women, fashion law or we can say apparel law came into play. Right from the birth of the idea to develop a particular piece of clothing, to designing the layout of the garment, getting it structured, publishing it on the portal, getting brand protection for the garment, every step requires legal assistance to avoid the undesirable complications for future. The concept of fashion law has made a distinct position of its own in the commercial industry with the help of globalization. Fashion has emerged to be a catalyst in the country’s economy when there was a fluent interaction and integration among people belonging to a different origin. It created opportunities for the developed as well as developing countries to participate in the trade of garments. Prior to the advent of globalization, fashion was more about craftsmanship and the common people were not the ones who were able to purchase such products. Clothes and accessories were priced at a higher amount as they were not produced in bulk, and were designed on the demand of the upper class people. In the present scenario, a particular garment is manufactured multiple times and is available to the masses and the prices are also minimal. Fashion is not just familiar to the people living in urban and sub urban areas but the rural people are also aware of the trends that are prevalent at a particular point of time. The countries are able to information, goods, services and finance quickly and in a less complicated way. Fashion has come a long way from the luxury of upper class society to the perception of individual, all thanks to globalization.
DIFFERENT VOICES OF GLOBAL FASHION
Fashion industry is rapidly developing day by day, so is apparel law. With the cyber technology, internet, mass media, effective transportation and networking, a web has been weaved across the globe that broadens the scope of interaction. The subjects of globalization have united to reorganize the global culture. Global retailers have observed the global consumer consumption behavior and found the needs and demands of people with respect to their geographical locations, which product is being sold in which area what and expanded business in top selling areas. The talk of fashion will be fragmentary if it does not include designers like Coco Chanel, Calvin Klein, Valentino Garavani, Donatella Versace, Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani, Marc Jacobs and so on. These brands are insanely popular but did they supply their products to the developing countries like India? The essence of globalization lies in the effect that is caused across the globe when something has happened in a certain part of the world. But for such effect, there must be interaction and exchange across the borders for business, trade, commerce free flow of information, technology, goods and services. Emergence of international network through globalization further leads to technological, economic, political and cultural exchange between the entities. Calvin Klein announced their store launch in metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore in 2007, whereas the brand is in existence since 1968. Similarly, Polo Ralph Lauren has opened the first flagship store in India in 2018 which has also been functioning since 1967. What took companies half a century to start their clothing line in India, or rather what has changed after decades that they are coming to developing countries to sell their product? The answer is globalization. If each and every country had an equal position in global trade, the retailers might not differentiate, but when the country has a slow growth and saturated competition, the retailers will opt for the opposite option that is economic growth and existence of market competition. There are large disparities between high- and low-income economies, particularly in regulatory areas that are central to doing business such as registering a company, trading across borders, getting credit and enforcing contracts, according to a World Bank report. Now, the retailers are choosing developing countries because of the economic stability through extensive observation. Analyzing and understanding the impact of cultural background behavior pattern of the consumers of different countries is important for global retailers to be successful throughout. Globalization has revolved fashion into a flourishing garden, something very different as compared to old times. Not only the nature and process of manufacturing products has changed, but it has also had a revolutionary influence on certain sociological, economic and cultural factors within developing countries delicately, but in the context of developed countries as well. It also helped in the generation of employment within the countries where the products are being sold. When huge conglomerates such as Zara, Gucci, Adidas or Nike enter into a new market, they generate various employment opportunities to the citizens of the country. Providing employment also helps in boosting economy of the countries further helping to mobilize developing countries. However, there are many Indian brands that have gained huge market share across the globe, globalization being a catalyst to the development of such brands. Peter England, a division of the Aditya Birla Group, known for the premium range of shirts and formals has their presence in about 300 cities across the globe. TATA, one of the most promising Indian companies has their offices in 80 countries around the world. Similarly, brands like Titan, Jaguar, Jet Airways, Zomato are recognized and appreciated globally. Liberalizing economy and internationalizing human relationships helps in expansion of commercial activities. After the structural reforms with the implementation of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization, high-end brands entered the counties to sell their products and Indian companies went global.
THE CLOTHING CONTROVERSY
The intellectual right protection available in the realm of fashion industries for the design, photographs, content, fabric pattern can be categorized into patent, copyright and trademark. Disparate aspects of intellectual property rights such as patents, copyrights and trademarks serve different roles when it comes to the protection, such as patent protects inventions, copyright protects creative and artistic works and trademark protects the identity of the brand. Being one of the fastest growing industries of the country, some Indian brands and designers have earned global recognition as well. Fashion is subjected to innovation and creation and copying some other’s work may be easily accomplished as no specific legislation has been laid down in Indian statues per se. In comparison to the developed countries, India is lagging behind with respect to protection of intellectual property rights. However, the designers in France, London and other developed countries are also not well protected under the scope of intellectual property laws except for exercising rights related to brands and logos. Laws related to European Union provide more protection with respect to fashion laws. The Fashion counterfeits or fashion knockoffs in layman language are replicas of the original designs, usually manufactured by using lower quality of products and offered to sell at a cheaper price tag to the consumers. Producing such imitations or copies are comparatively easy these days as the designs can be accessed from one corner of the world to the other with just a click. The technological advancement has made it easy for the people to copy the exact design of any particular brand without the knowledge of the designer. Since globalization has made the world more closer and connected, the scope of vulnerability regarding the infringement of designs has also increased. The Internet and media platforms have unclogged the course of copying and pasting designs within hours of being telecasted on fashion ramps or runways. Earlier, the high-end and premium brands used to be diminutive, family owned businesses which are restricted to certain geographical boundaries, having an undivided clientele. The scope of infringement was very limited and the designers had no worry the protection of their intellectual property rights. But with globalization, there was an emergence of global economic network that made communicational exchange smooth mostly by advances in infrastructure, transportation and technology. The breeding interdependence of countries was resulted from integration of trade, finance, individuals and ideas which were part of one global market.
The heart of fashion lies in new and fresh designs. There is a galactic value of the intellectual capital of products in the fashion world, be it premium brands or petite designers. From the lawsuit that Puma filed against Forever 21 for selling lookalike versions of footwear from Rihanna’s Fenty line for Puma to the shops in Chandni Chowk, Delhi selling replicas of designers like Sabyasachi and Manish Malhotra, there have been multiple cases of infringement across the globe. People might hesitate to go for the most coveted brands like Rolex, Dior, Balenciaga, Prada, Versace or Gucci but the street markets are growing prosperously by selling their fashion knockoffs. Counterfeit goods have existed as long as high-end fashion has been a coveted commodity. Before internet, gray market used to attract salespeople, and that further developed into a notorious place to buy knockoffs and other designer commodities. Salespeople contacted their consumers personally about the availability of products. The fashion counterfeit were sold in sort of underground way until the age of internet. In-person knockoff sale was easily traceable and they were subject of arrest by the police authorities. Whereas, online counterfeit fashion is not about someone on the street selling a fake Gucci bag, it could also be large corporations and celebrities stealing from independent artists and selling work almost identical to theirs with little to null repercussions. Social media serves a platform where the artists and designers can display their original work and gain recognition for it. One of the facts that should be concerned is the amount of fashion counterfeits is increasing with the passing time all over the world. The increasing demand of high-end brands by the people has stimulated the proliferation of imitators and counterfeiters in various regions. The globalization of marketing platforms, coupled with technologies like media and internet have diverted the original institutional boundaries and restructured the supply chains of the markets. Generally, any fashion entity be it a well known brand or individual designer, is rewarded with success due to their efficient mechanism, organizational hierarchy, baroque designs, daedal thoughts, fluent advertising, effective distribution system and veracious pricing strategies. The whole process goes in vein when counterfeiting comes into play. However, the designers lack to understand the exclusive rights that are being granted to them through intellectual property laws that can help them in saving their designs from getting copied. While fashion trends may come and go with a blink of the eye but the intellectual capital involved is of tremendous value, which should be protected at all costs.
GLOBALIZATION IN FASHION INDUSTRY, BOON OR BANE
The way fashion has been propagated through images, movies, magazines, runways, music videos using technological platforms as their platform across the world, they have created a global impact on style statement of the people. High-tech global marketing portals cater needs of every individual irrespective of their gender, age or cultural background. The Wall Street Journal anxiously watched over consumer behavior as minutely measured by the Consumer Confidence Index managed at the University of Michigan, in this view, consumption is neither personal nor individual, but necessary for upholding a vast, intricate global capitalist economy. Globalization has changed the manner in which fashion trends were preached, designs were manufactured and commodities were sold. However, the relationship between globalization and fashion law is multidimensional, and not every dimension consists of positive aspects. Technology is advancing and bringing changes with respect to the production and distribution of goods and services. Globalization aims at certain standards that have to be maintained under the purview of international economic laws and policies. When counterfeited goods are made accessible to the masses, even intellectual property laws are doubted over in the industry. Though the use of internet has helped in counterfeiting of goods in multitude, it has equally helped in exposing such duplicate goods. Social media platform like Instagram consists of pages like dietprada and dietsabya, which is the Indian version of dietprada has been a fashion watchdog continuously monitoring the infringements all over the world. They are calling out artists and designers who have produced their designs either by completely copying other’s work or by making minute changes. Plagiarism of designs is a raising dust to the fashion industry where lack of awareness surrounding intellectual property rights which are available to fashion designers plays an important role. With all the awareness created about the infringement of intellectual property rights, Rohit Bahl became the first Indian Fashion designer to copyright his entire collection. The infringement is concerned about either a particular part of the garment or the garment as a whole. Globalization is a constant phenomenon, it will continue to happen and reflect certain changes across the globe. People now have fast access to the information about the latest collections by their favorite designers or the latest fashion trend through the social media. These commodities are also accessible to these people via e-commerce and m-commerce platforms. The enhancement of transportation and telecommunication is not going to deteriorate, but will help to cover distances across the globe in a blink of the eye. By the influence of fashion industries, fashion law advanced among the other fields of law. The fashion industry however occupies a precarious position because of lack of provisions in the statues. Brands are not immune to counterfeiting, they can be copied at a cheaper price and sold to people all over the world without the knowledge of the original designer. Globalization on one hand is partially responsible for the plagiarism, but on the brighter side there was no other way that the warring countries could have united if there was no trade. Globalization is the reason that the world seems to be connected, hence definitely a boon.
CONCLUSION
With the world becoming smaller through globalization, fashion encapsulates it more than any industry, and fashion law equally plays a major role. Jute which is cultivated in India, might be spun into coarse, strong threads in Uzbekistan, and then converted into fabric in Zimbabwe, stitched into garment in Bangladesh and sold back at a retail store in India. The ideas and expressions revolve around the world consisting of reflection of cultures and traditions of the countries, thus making them a part of the fashion industry. Globalization is not just about countries, it is more about individuals, cultures, society and imbibing the norms within them. What consumers do not understand is how global the fashion industry is, and how important it is that they are global. The consumers have certain advantages today, those were non-existent prior to globalization. In similar way, fashion law has advanced with the vibrancy of internet and briskness of the information and transparency. Duplicating of designs is not a recent phenomenon, but with the passing time and easy access to the layouts, infringement of intellectual capitals has multiplied across the globe. With the world getting closer, the interaction between the states is strengthening. Globalization concerns states, companies, networking platforms, international institutions, trade organizations, media and individuals that are involved. The importance of intellectual property rights in relation to fashion industry is utmost, and there is a need to reassess and reevaluate the spectrum of protection that is granted to the industry. The interests of the fashion designers should be safeguarded as being the original creators of the product. There have been many instances that how far the fashion industry came with respect to recognizing their intellectual property rights and enforcing them without any loose ends.
