This is not the first time we have heard about this, and probably will not be the last. We thought you had the right to know.
Urban Outfitters ripped off a Johnny Cupcakes shirt and is now selling it in some of their stores.
Here is the story. Urban Outfitters have just released a shirt with a jet dropping cupcakes (with a different color scheme) which is the exact same thing that Johnny Cupcakes released around 2 years prior.
Last year Urban wanted to carry my shirts; they had a few Johnny Cupcakes shirt samples I had sent them….the Jet dropping cupcakes being one of them. I never ended up getting my samples back after we decided not to do business together.
The Original Jet Shirt (red tee above) released early Summer 2004.
Urban Outfitter’s rip off (slate tee above) releases Mid January 2006.
A note From Johnny Himself:
THEY NEVER HAD PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS OR ANY OTHER OF MY DESIGNS.
A friend of mine that works in an Urban Outfitters e-mailed me recently, telling me that she thought they got Johnny Cupcakes shirts in…. except they had an “Urban Renewal” tag/print on the inside of em – which is Urban Outfitters’ notorious clothing line that rips off small, independent artists & designers from all around the world. I know over a dozen people that work at different Urban Outfitters across the US, and they’ve told me this happens all the time. Most of them are ashamed to work there, but it beats McDonald’s.
I am currently talking to a few lawyers to see if there’s anything I can do. They may have changed the design around enough so that they can’t get in trouble. Major bummer.
If you google “Urban Outfitters” and “Infringement” – you will find over five hundred results & cases about Urban Outfitters infringing upon young/small designers & clothing lines. I’ve been getting tons of e-mails from designers that couldn’t even take their cases to court, because they’re not a billion dollar corporation (yet) & don’t have a fraction of the money that Urban brings in.
I am Johnny Cupcakes, this company is my life, and this awful, scummy situation upsets me.
Above you will see the Red Jet t-shirt dropping cupcakes that I originally sent to them, as a sample, before I decided to keep my shirts out of Urban Outfitters. They KEPT my sample shirts, copied the idea of one of them so far, and is now mass producing them with their ‘Urban Renewal’ company name on the inside .
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
-Re-post this & these links on websites.
-E-mail this to anyone & everyone you know.
-Support more independent shops & boutiques, rather than feeding your dollars
to a company that is fine with cheating real companies.-Please let me know me if you come across any other Johnny Cupcake-ish designs
in the Urban Outfitters stores.-And you can purchase the real deal — Johnny Cupcakes shirts here .
Thank you so much for your time!
Love,
Johnny Cupcakes
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