Coincidence?

Hello, Urban Outfitters. These look a little familiar:

I suppose the work is done for you now, if you don’t feel like making your own.

syroco flowers

(Thanks for the heads up, Keira!)

21 Responses to “Coincidence?”

  1. zee says:

    Holy moly! Maybe you should let these guys know.. http://urbncounterfeiters.blogspot.com/
    Imitation and flattery and all that though..

  2. goosefairy says:

    Um… wow. Can you say “rip off”? I’m stunned.

  3. Nicole | Making it Lovely says:

    To be fair, I can’t say I’m the only one to think of the idea. The Scoop noticed the same painted Syroco piece in Geinfer Goodman’s home.

  4. Laura says:

    They are the worst. Boo, urban.

  5. Soapylove says:

    Yikes. They are shameless.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Hi Nicole,
    Yours is much nicer though :-)
    Nice try, UO

  7. Julieta says:

    How sad to wake up every morning and know you are an uninspired drone.

    I know someone who works at a place known for their “coincidences,” and they like to call trolling the internet for designs to steal ‘benchmarking.’ Here’s another fine example of the design skills belonging to those who work in the UO family of companies.

    http://la.apartmenttherapy.com/la/inspiration/deja-vu-darby-striped-headboard-033002

  8. jaime says:

    sadness

  9. Anonymous says:

    wow. you’ve got a good eye for design

  10. moodboard says:

    oh no:( It takes the specialness out of finding that one of a kind piece doesn’t it?

  11. mi2 says:

    wow! shame shame shame!

  12. drey says:

    wow. *blink* surely they could have picked ANOTHER Syroco item!! sheesh!

  13. Michelle says:

    Wow. At least you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you made it yourself.

    (btw, I totally stole your idea to hang in my bathroom, but at least I picked a different Syroco item!)

    ;)

  14. Jessica says:

    Well, they do say imitation is the best compliment! It’s an eerie feeling though. Last summer I picked up a few cool odds and ends at a flea market that I was really excited about. This spring I was browsing at anthropologie and they had exact replicas of 2 of the peices. It was weird and flattering and kind of annoying. I joke with my fiance that he’s a spy for urban/anthropologie sending them my ideas! Love your blog!

  15. Allison says:

    I was just browsing Urban Outfitters yesterday and noticed that! Copycats. There was another product there that looked familiar, too! I’m going to have to go look!

  16. Haley says:

    That’s not the first time UO’s blatantly ripped something off… I found the fabric they based (copied) one of their fabrics used for bedding and curtains on. The colors were just slightly different, but besides that it was nearly identical! I would mind more if I could afford the original fabric, though.At least now I get to have vintage fabrics in my home for a fraction of the price (especially because now it’s on sale :).

  17. Laura says:

    i saw that and wondered where i saw that before. HM.
    btw, i just now finally came by your blog.. i love it!

  18. Leah says:

    And here’s another example of Urban Outfitters ripping off someone else’s ideas:

    http://morewaystowastetime.blogspot.com/2007/10/double-take-urban-outfitters-and-evo.html

    All the best,

    Leah

  19. Anonymous says:

    OK, I’m very confused. Are you thinking that Urban ripped you off?Did it not occur to you that they may have also shopped ebay, or a flea market or garage sale for that matter and found the same exact piece- a piece which you yourself DID NOT DESIGN, but merely found and painted over? You need to be educated, so let me clue you into something. Every major retailer- Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Restoration Hardware, even MARTHA STEWART shops flea markets and gets inspiration from and yes, sometimes makes exact copies of, vintage originals.

    http://www.craftlog.org/craftlog/archives/001474.html

    Do you not get any catalogs at home? Have you never seen this done before? I am extremely surprised that you, as a designer, (?) would not know this. Why, for heaven sake, are you singling out Urban Outfitters? Not to mention I see your post was done June 5th. There is no way they would have seen your idea and been able to sell it a mere month or two later. I’m sorry, but you clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

  20. Yes, it was.

    Especially since I never even said outright that I was being copied. ;)

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