Stobbs news and archive

“Brat Green” and beyond: What fashion designers can learn about colour trade marks

When Charli XCX dropped her album “Brat” last year, she didn’t just spark a music frenzy - she launched a colour moment. The acid-lime shade dubbed “Brat Green” flooded social media, merchandise, beauty and fashion. Designers such as Prada, McQueen and Fendi adopted the colour, making it one of 2024’s defining visuals. Fast forward to Summer...

Featured

Fashion

How to avoid a sad beige ending: Lessons drawn from the 'Sad Beige Influencer' case

How can a trailblazer influencer protect themselves from others who mimic their style to unfair commercial advantage? A short, sharp answer is to build a ‘brand’, not just an ‘aesthetic’. Vague claims and vanilla imagery don’t stand up in court. To be effectively enforced, intellectual property needs to be concrete, specific, and original –...

FeaturedMember

Business

Runway to rip-offs: How copyright protects your creations

Fashion weeks have come to a close. If you're a designer, stylist, or fashion lover, you're likely to be buzzing with inspiration. But at what point does taking inspiration cross the line into copying? And what can you do if someone steals your design? We’ve previously covered design rights and using your name as your brand (i.e. trade mark)....

FeaturedMember

Business

Clutch, dress, contract: A beginner’s guide to contracts

Contracts. What are they? Why are they important? Why should you care? Historically, contracts have got a bad reputation for being time-consuming, hard to understand and costly. Those criticisms are still applicable, but they don’t have to be. Contracts are one of the ways that you can protect your business, your products and safeguard against...

FeaturedMember

Business

What to know when using your name for your brand

When creating a new business or brand, one of the many issues to be considered is what to call it. For a designer, the most obvious naming choice is to use their own name, or a variant of their own name. It is common practice within the fashion and cosmetics industries for a designer or founder to name the brand after themself, and there can be...

FeaturedMember

Business

Now fashion week is over, what is next for your designs?

We’ve watched the new collections strut down the runway, but now that fashion week is over, what should designers be thinking about in terms of IP protection? Written by Emma Day (IA trainee) and Harriet Berridge (IA director and fashion lead), Stobbs If you need a recap on designs, Stobbs touched on registered and unregistered designs in a...