High street knock-offs are priceless to students – but what’s the impact on designers?

We’ve all done it. It’s hard not to. That curious niggling in the back of your mind telling you just to google it, and no harm will be done, when in actual fact, harm is always done.

I’m talking about spotting a garment in your favourite magazine and stupidly searching the price, knowing fine and well that it’s probably far from within your student budget.

Designer gear has never been, and never will be, cheap. But luckily for students, the development of ‘fast fashion’ has meant getting more affordable but still on trend clothing has never been easier, and most of it has been inspired by our most adored fashion designers.

Names like Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent and Prada are all synonymous with price, yet clever stores like Topshop and River Island have made their designs available to the mass market. Shoes, accessories and clothing are all ‘designed’ to look like the original, high price creation, with slight alterations to prevent theft claims.

High street stores make millions from fashion conscious students looking for the latest trend, at a price that doesn’t require an overdraft, and can have the new designs in-store within 3 weeks. The idea of the ‘trickle-down’ theory, in which the best of the best decide what us ‘on the street’ wear, has now become a global phenomenon.

It’s only further enhanced by social media and live streaming of catwalk shows, so high street retailers can have new pieces in production within days. These new products that we can then purchase may as well have been cut from the same pattern, as from what you see below, they are nearly identical in some cases.

But when is it going too far? Designers all over the world dread the highstreet releases of their ‘unique’ pieces, making the need for all their hard work nearly pointless. Cheaper variations of their once original creations are now being sold in the bottom pricing bracket, and leaves the much-loved designers feeling used.

They argue that just because it doesn’t look the same doesn’t mean it’s not theft, but calling dibs on a design is hardly easy, and as long as it’s not using their trademark logo, is technically not theft.

Most students can only dream of high fashion.

This rule still won’t stop a designer calling legal action against a store however. In 2007, Chloe started a legal battle with Topshop over a yellow mini-dungaree dress, which resulted in Topshop binning nearly 2,000 dresses. Similarly, in 2006, Marks and Spencer were in hot water with the world renowned brand Jimmy Choo, who accused M&S of copying a bag. Neither highstreet store admitted copying the designers, but both destroyed the apparently stolen creations.

Students make up a massive part of the market and according to the Telegraph, on average; we spend about £40 a month on new clothes. It’s no surprise then that the high street retailers want to keep us fast moving consumers happy. This task is not made any easier by the availability now of cheaper designer gear, thanks to netaporter.com and other discount designer websites. They may not be Primark pricing but they certainly knock a fair percentage off of last season’s collections.

One main reason the highstreet does so well is because of younger shoppers (e.g students). Marketing to students is a great pull for designers which has been made apparent in recent years with the increase in designer-highstreet collaborations. H&M famously created a collection with Lanvin back in 2011 and Isabel Marant in 2013. John Lewis also made the headlines with Alice Temperley when her clothing was introduced to the highstreet department chain. In the next few years we can expect to see more collaborations selling out, as we grasp for the chance to wear the name without the price tag.

For all us students out there, it’s a great thing knowing we don’t have to splash the cash to be on trend and feel great, but what about the designers? The designers who work hard to produce beautiful, sometimes hand crafted pieces, to then have them walk by in a cheaper, high street version.

I personally find it hard to pick a side. I love being able to experience the style without the cost, but at the same time I feel for the designers who work so hard for one collection, only to see it a few weeks later in a highstreet store window. For now though, until a new law passes or designers simply give up, we can expect a new ‘luxury inspired range’ to be hitting our highstreets at the end of summer.

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