Mum accuses major Aussie brand of duping her design

"The fact that it's the same colour palette and embroidery - seeing it for the first time gave me a sick feeling in my stomach."

When a customer of Hannah’s sent her a photo of a onesie in a Seed Heritage store last week, she had to do a double take.

“She messaged me, saying: ‘This looks very familiar’,” Hannah, a fashion designer and Owner of the Bam Loves Boo kidswear brand, tells Kidspot. 

The customer wasn’t wrong. 

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Hannah's stomach dropped when she saw the design. Picture: Supplied

“Seeing it for the first time gave me a sick feeling in my stomach”

The product in question, the Seed Heritage long-sleeve bodysuit, has an uncanny likeness to Hannah’s ‘Dusk’ design which has appeared on playsuits, tees and short sleeve onesies in her own range since 2022. 

“They flipped the moon and used a darker thread,” the Brisbane mum-of-two says of the Seed bodysuit. 

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“Otherwise it looks the same, even the boucle embroidery is the same, which is my signature. If they used just the same print, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but the fact that it was the same colour palette and embroidery - seeing it for the first time gave me a sick feeling in my stomach.”  

Hannah has no idea how long it has been sold by Seed Heritage, one of Australia’s biggest fashion labels, but believed it to be (based on feedback from customers she received on a social media post asking when they had seen it) between one and two months.  

On August 27, the day after becoming aware of the similar product, Hannah sent an email to the Brandbank Group, the parent company of Seed Heritage. 

“It was very polite, I didn’t accuse them of anything or demand they take anything down,” the 39-year-old says. “I just wanted to bring the similarities to their attention.”  

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Hannah did not receive a reply, but the following day, the product was removed from the Seed Heritage website, followed by online retailer, The Iconic, saying it was “not available”, and then Myer followed suit, also removing it from its website. 

On August 29, Hannah says she also called several Seed and Myer stores, with all of them telling her that the product had been recalled by head office. 

“I wasn’t expecting that,” she says. “The fact that they recalled them is quite telling.” 

Bam Loves Boo's Dusk design (left) vs. Seed Heritage's Moon Bodysuit (right). Picture: Supplied

Meanwhile, at the time of publication, Hannah was still awaiting a reply from the company to her two emails, neither of which referred to any legal action as she does not intend to take any. 

“Once I found out about the recall, I sent a follow-up email, suggesting they could be donated to a charity I’m associated with, Baby Give Back,” Hannah says. “They would love these onesies and so many people would benefit from them.

"I don’t know what [Seed] will do with them but I don’t want to see these recalled clothes potentially going to landfill. My brand is about reducing waste, not creating more.” 

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Hannah argued the brand used the "same colour palette" and boucle embroidery, which is her brand's "signature". Picture: Supplied

“It happens a lot in this industry”

While Hannah, who also works as a freelance fashion designer for other major Australian brands, isn’t a stranger to similar versions of her work appearing elsewhere, she is speaking out about this one as the design is like no other to her. 

“It happens a lot in this industry - especially with overseas manufacturers - but this one really hit a nerve,” she says. 

“It’s very sentimental to me. I created it just after I had my youngest child, Winnie. Mikey (her son who she lost to stillbirth at 20 weeks) is the moon, the sun is Harlow (her eight-year-old daughter) and the waves are Winnie (age four) completing everything below.” 

“For me, it's not a money thing. I don't feel like I've lost sales from this. I’m speaking up because this is happening to so many small businesses I speak to, and there’s so little we can do to stop it.”   

Hannah has also accepted that she has no legal way of protecting her designs from appearing elsewhere.  

“I don’t have a fighting chance,” she admits. “Even if I did copyright a design here in Australia, it wouldn’t protect me as I would need to copyright it in the country of the manufacturer, and it’s a huge cost and a very long process that a small business like mine can’t afford. It’s just not possible.”

Kidspot has contacted Seed Heritage’s parent company, Brandbank Group, and it has not responded at the time of publication. 

Originally published as Mum accuses major Aussie brand of duping her design