Proenza Schouler PS1 bag on top; Target’s Messenger Bag in Olive on the bottom. Img source
As you may or may not have heard, Proenza Schouler recently expressed disappointment that Target had begun selling a bag that was similar to their PS1 bag. From the New York Times blog: “[Proenza Schouler designer Jack] McCollough can understand that people love bargains and knockoffs, but variations, clever or not, rob companies, small companies like Proenza, of opportunities. Reading the post, he remarked, “Yeah, why save up and buy ours when you can buy theirs right away?”
Well, whom is knocking off whom? And is it correct of McCollough to assume that theirs is the original, and that the Target bag is directly derived from Proenza Schouler’s re-imagining of the standard messenger satchel?
Fossil Vintage Re-Issue Flap, $108
Express Top Handle Satchel, $59.90
TopShop the Mimi Bag by Marc B**, $84
Marc by Marc Jacobs Saddlery Sophie, $478
ASOS Clean Line Double Buckle Satchel, $44
Pathfinder Laptop Messenger Bag, $49.95
Vintage B-15 Pilot Messenger Bag, $31.99
And add all of those to Refinery 29‘s recent exhaustive list of PS1 doppelgangers…
And these are just the bags that are currently available for sale on the Internet…not including the messenger bags used by the U.S. army throughout the decades…schoolboys in Europe in the 1940’s and 50’s…oh, and all satchels ever existing in the history of Time.
What do you guys think? Does Proenza Scholer have the right to be issuing statements about design infringement towards Target? Do you think the designer for this bag for Target intentionally copied the PS1…or just designed a messenger bag with a few similarities? Which came first – the chicken or the egg…or, in this case: the PS1 or the iconic messenger-bag-style design?
Though the Mossimo bag ($34.99) is out of stock online, I spied it the other day at my local Target store. And if you’d like to worship and purchase the original PS1 in all its original glory, it’s available here for $1,995.
xoxox
Carly
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This seems like a ‘mountains out of mole hills’ problem. Sure, the bags look the similar, but Proenza’s forgetting that “copying” shouldn’t matter; their quality and brand should be able to speak for themselves. It seems like they’re pouting because the design wasn’t quite original enough to be called “their’s” like Chanel’s or Prada’s, and now they are taking it out on the easy-to-target drugstore (no pun intended).
Very interesting points. This is a difficult situation. I think the fashion industry is all about copying and taking inspiration from others. I think it is ridiculous to think than anything is truly individual and protected in some way. Women and girls who purchase from Target would very rarely spend save up for the real thing (not all, but I know that I would not and neither would many women that I know). I think that women who want the status symbol of an expensive purse would not be daunted by this as it happens so often.
That said, I think Target should have been sensitive to this issue because they worked so closely with the designer and just re-released the designer dress. Not cool. I know Target is large, but I don’t think they should be burning bridges yet.
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In generell I agree with you, designing a variation of a classic piece makes it- well, a variation. Similar elements are a must, otherwise it wouldn’t be that kind of bag. The pointy part of the flap looks very similar, though.
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Personally, I don’t know anyone in “these tough economic times” saving up for a handbag! For that matter, I don’t know of many people who are even able to save. I don’t think McCollough is upset about Target “copying”, he’s upset at them providing the copy at a fraction of the PS1’s price, a more REALISTIC price point for the average working class American.
I think it’s likely that Target intentionally replicated the PS1, but I don’t think McCollough could ever win that battle in court. And I suspect he knows that so going public is his only recourse. Ironically I feel like his public statement actually gives the Target version more credibility. I mean, if it’s good enough to get McCollough upset maybe I should check it out!
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I don’t know very much about copying in the fashion industry or the details of what is really considered fair play with working off another’s idea, so I may not have a very educated opinion on the matter. But I have seen knockoffs looking a lot closer to the original than this, and it doesn’t seem to quite generate the same amount of furor, so I think hearing that this would do so seems to come off as a bit of selective sour grapes to me.
I do agree that it may hurt the collaboration in the future of Target with designers, which I wouldn’t like to see happen, so it might have been safer for them not to have produced this item, however.
I understand their concern considering they did a capsule collection but come on….$2k for a handbag? There are satchel style bags everywhere (you showed some great examples) at different price points. Personally I wouldn’t even carry a blatant copy of a PS1 bag because I wouldn’t want to be associated with the kind of people that would blow $2k on a piece of leather just because it’s constructed a certain way. Designer handbags are a not a “get what you pay for” kind of industry. For example, I see MBMJ leather bags with the color rubbed off all the time. It has made me not want to buy one because $500 does not mean it will last forever. I would rather pay less, and have it fall apart or be ruined by rain than pay money that could buy food for a few months and be stuck with something I feel like I have to treat like an infant. /rant 🙂
A good point!! I bought the “knock-off” from Tar-jay and think it is pretty sweet. As much as I would love to spend $2000 on the PS1, $32 makes a little more sense right now. 🙂
xx Laura
Word. And these aren’t in the same demographic anyway. No one is going to be all, “I want this $2000 bag but I can’t afford it so I’ll get the $30 one instead.” That’s just not happening.
It’s a rightful claim, I believe, as everyone is copying everyone right now. However, as you cleverly observed, the design is far from being new and original, it only happened that Proenza re-launched the style with their PS1 (which I completely adore). The one thing that would have been enough to say in their defense is that quality items stand the test of time better than knockoffs, whoever they’d copy.
PS – thanks for stopping by and letting me know about the weblinks mess. I updated my article! Keep on the great and inspiring work!
Don’t forget Marc Jacobs’s “High Schooly” bag too:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=marc+jacobs+schooly&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=581&ie=UTF-8&cid=2107350567718680195&sa=X&ei=PoijTa_vKYSesQPW7K36DA&ved=0CCQQ8wIwAg#
Ah yes!! How could I forget… Thanks Nic!
I don’t think a designer can say a particular style is theirs and theirs alone – theirs is only a version of something probably already had done before anyway.
I think they are whining over nothing – it is two different demographics and the Target bag is enough different that it is not a copy and no one (okay, no woman, most men could care less about a woman’s handbag) is going to mistake it for the original.
A woman that buys and expensive designer handbag does so because it is an expensive designer handbag as much for the name as they do the style – it is a status symbol giving the illusion of success, wealth and power.
Someone who shops at Target (like me) will pick a bag because I like the style at the time, but not looking and realize I will probably get bored with it before I wear it out anyway, therefore having a high quality bag is not a priority.