'Disheartening': Mum's clothing brand hit by fast fashion copycat sellers
An NQ mum has discovered foreign retail giants are stealing her original clothing designs and selling them for a fraction of the price, forcing her small business to compete with cheap knock-offs.
A small business owner is speaking out about online store copycats, stealing her homemade designs and selling them for a fraction of the price.
Mr Boaz Clothing owner Bryharr Pelizzari has accused foreign online retail giants of lifting her original designs and destroying consumers’ understanding of the value of human labour.
She is known for her popular TikTok page which features her life and her baby Boaz, with more than 150k followers.
The Townsville-based small business owner said she had been forced to compete with international clothing giants after customers alerted her to “disheartening” rip-offs of her work appearing in social media advertisements for a cheaper price.
Ms Pelizzari, started her brand with her husband as a creative outlet while raising her baby Boaz, who the brand is named after, and said she began by drawing her artwork on an iPad before pressing the designs onto garments in her spare room.
Now, with the help of a graphic designer her brand has become popular, with new designs and a Christmas collection dropping.
However, she said the rise of ultra-fast fashion had created an uneven playing field where intellectual property ownership was being ignored.
“It is a hard one because everyone gets their inspiration from somewhere, but it is pretty disheartening when people see your prices because they are better quality and ethically made, and then they see the same thing printed on another T-shirt,” Ms Pelizzari said.
She said consumers would see a duplicate item and decide to “buy that one instead”.
Ms Pelizzari said an issue was that consumers were unknowingly stripping value from the artist when purchasing knock-off goods.
“When you purchase my print, you are purchasing an artwork,” she said.
“The fast fashion places take the artwork, you are not paying for the artwork because they have got it from somewhere. You are not paying for someone to draw that.”
Ms Pelizzari said the influx of cheap imports had changed public perception of what clothing should cost.
She said shoppers often questioned why a small business charged $65 for a shirt when overseas platforms sold them for $15.
Her designs are printed on ethically sourced 100% cotton, compared to cheaper, unethical fabrics used by big companies who produces hundreds of thousands of items a day.
“These sites have changed people’s perspective and value on human labour,” she said.
Ms Pelizzari said “bargain culture” had driven a shift in consumer behaviour where shoppers preferred quantity over longevity.
“People have lost that value,” she said.
“It is this sort of bargain culture of just buying 100 things … that last two minutes, versus one really good quality T-shirt that will last them more than 100 washes.”
Despite the pressure from global competitors, Ms Pelizzari said she had retained a loyal following on social media.
“I am a mum just trying to support my family,” she said.
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Originally published as 'Disheartening': Mum's clothing brand hit by fast fashion copycat sellers
