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dhb Blok Superstar jersey on Wiggle.co.ukWiggle to investigate plagiarism claim in Ana Nichoola Star-gate row
Online retailer Wiggle has promised to hold a full investigation after it was accused of plagiarism by Anna Glowinski, founder of the women’s cycle clothing brand, Ana Nichoola, an accusation that prompted strong criticism of the business on social media.
In a post to Facebook on Friday evening, Glowinski spoke of being “angry” and “heartbroken” after seeing a product for sale on Wiggle that she believes is a copy of one of her designs that she had previously shown the retailer.
The product for sale on Wiggle has been produced by the retailer’s in-house clothing brand dhb’s Blok range. There's a picture of it above. The men's ersion is currently one of the best-selling men's dhb items on Wiggle.
Glowinski has regularly used stars as a motif in her designs for Ana Nicoola. Here’s one, which we reviewed on road.cc in May 2012.
In her Facebook post, Glowinski, who also tweeted a link to it, said: “18months ago @wiggle bike shop came to my design studio/office and we spent a couple of hours looking at my designs with a view to buy. A year later we talked about a collaboration. The talks went quiet and they brought out their own version. Angry? Yes! Heartbroken? More than I knew was possible! Powerful? Nope.”
The post was widely shared and retweeted, with dozens of comments made in support of Glowinski, some calling for a boycott of Wiggle.
Some pointed out that the star motif itself perhaps owes something to the US national champion's jersey. While those tend to be uniform in size whereas the Ana Nichoola ones vary, some may recall this jersey worn by the United States team at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, sported here by Alexi Lalas.
The online retailer responded with a statement which it tweeted at 6.35pm on Sunday evening, saying:
Anna Glowinski made us aware by email at 23:12 on Friday that she believes Wiggle has plagiarised a design from her range of women’s cycling clothing she showed us in 2013.
The Wiggle colleague Anna e-mailed was on annual leave, though we did pick it up and respond to her at 17:32 on Saturday.
We confirmed that we are taking her claim very seriously and will be investigating fully on Monday. In the meantime Anna had shared her claim and frustration on Social media. We at Wiggle would like to make it clear that we work to the highest ethical standards. If a designer has indeed used Anna’s designs and passed them off as their own then we will be taking full disciplinary action and ensuring that Anna benefits from the design royalties. We too would be upset, if this is indeed what has happened. We will provide an update at 17:00 on Monday. The Wiggle Team.
In a follow-up on Saturday morning to her initial post, Glowinski said: “Wow! It's been really heartening to wake up to such support! Thanks so much! Not sure what I am going to do yet as can't afford a lawyer etc etc blah blah. I'm reading all your comments and hopefully I will hear from wiggle this weekend?! Please keep sharing. Thank you thank you!”
Later the same day, she wrote: “I literally cannot believe the support from the cycling community! I know I am not the first person to ever put stars on something, but to come into my office and then bring out a replica is not design overlap or inspiration. In my opinion it is copying. I don't have copyright on this and not really sure my next move. I guess I will wait until Monday when everyone is back in work and go from there. Will report back. I really appreciate the support and feeling from the people in our community! Thank you!”
Facebook user Alsion Critchley wrote of the Wiggle garment: “I saw this jersey yesterday and instantly thought 'Anna won't be happy about that.' Stars print is definitely associated with her.”
Last year, the government’s Intellectual Property Office said that it planned to make the deliberate copying of a design a criminal offence.
According to a May 2013 article in Design Week, the proposed legislation is aimed at protecting small businesses and independent designers.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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72 comments
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Why has 'everyone' taken a total dislike to this particular woman?
If she feels she has been wronged then that is her perogative, surely?
Whilst not everyone may like the manner in which this issue came to light, online media Facebook/Twitter, etc - she believes she is justified in that her "intellectual property" has been swiped or her trust in a larger company has been met with abuse on their part.
There seems to be many derogatory comments against this individual ranging from 'struggling designer', calling her 'a chap', 'pretends she has a job in cycling'...and some posts by 'members with single digit post counts' (Trolling??Wiggle staff??..who knows) - I'd be pissed off too if something happened to me in a similar vein. I'd not expect to be met with character slurs or assassinations due to that fact...
No you probably cannot copyright stars, about as much as you can copyright a coloured band on your left jersey sleeve or chest - I'd imagine... or the use of a French word such as Roubaix. I didn't see the minnow in either of those cases being met with such vitriol...
People lurrrrrve dem free Haribo!
So many bloody idiots on this site. If you read the article, you will see that the issue here is NOT with a current product that Anna released, either the one she is wearing in the facebook post nor the one linked in this article.
It is one that she was working on and showed Wiggle as an example of her work when they were discussing doing a deal for her to design some clothing for them.
Once you understand that we don't know what the design she showed them looked like, then you understand where she is coming from. Until you understand that, stupid assed comments will be regarded as such.....
have you told her brother he has the wrong one?
https://www.facebook.com/wiggle
"Philip Glowinski You're comparing the wrong flipping jerseys..."
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/p75x225/...
Of course, she has the power to show us what the design is. To put it beyond any doubt so that all sides can make up their own opinion. We don't have a right to it, of course, other than the Court of social media has already been assembled. I do hope that Wiggle send my shoes today though even if they are very busy.
I've just spoken with Anna, thankfully she is ignoring any comments here and other places that have published the story.
The two designs she was speaking with Wiggle about were the Winter Star jersey and Snow Cat jacket, both of which I have attached here.
Take the design of these and put them together, move the stars around a little and you've got what Wiggle have "come up" with.
I will put a direct quote from my conversation
1-2014-01-021.jpg
'Struggling designer gets free publicity' is a more realistic headline here.
Look how much free publicity is going around!
Again, I'm struggling to see why people are being dicks about this?
She's isn't really a struggling designer is she? All her Ana Nichoola work has been very well received and sold well, as was her Repack MTB gear.
Wiggle approached her to use her skills as a designer.
She races with Mule Bar Sigma Sports.
She's a TV presenter.
She's written for several cycling magazines.
She was listed as one of the top 50 most influential people in cycling by Bike Biz.
It's a bit distasteful that people are so keen to be so dismissive of her and her work, writing her off as some 'silly little girl' or something. Anna Glowinski is cool as fuck in my view, and is probably more clued up about bikes and has more talent than a lot of those making snide pot shots put together.
Seriously, you don't even have to look very far to find out more about Anna, even if you just used the search function on this site you would find articles about her and her work.
http://road.cc/content/news/132528-bmx-star-liam-phillips-wins-inaugural...
Similar but not the same, much like apple accusing Samsung of design copying . Eventually it will settle down there is no case to answer
how ridiculous, this 'designer' hasn't got a trademark on using stars, so surely she hasn't got a leg to stand on
Can I ask why you felt it necessary to place ' around the word designer?
Are you trying to suggest she isn't a designer? Because when I do a search on this very site I get a few pages of results, mainly reviews of Anna's gear.
http://road.cc/search/node/ana%20nichoola
Perhaps you can point us all in the direction of Road.cc's reviews of Karbon Kev gear?
Does this designer give free haribo?
I am a well trained intellectual property lawyer with years of experience in this field and in my legal opinion i think Wiggle have been proper dicks in this matter.
I rest my case Your Honour
Whilst this Anna chap may be a designer, she's clearly got eyesight issues as the 2 jerseys look nothing alike! Does she cry plagiarism to anybody with stars tattooed on them, for example?! Storm in a teacup made up by somebody seeking a bit of attention. NEXT!
No, she is claiming plagiarism due to a company who had gone to her office for meetings, spent hours looking at her designs with a view to using them and then released a jersey that is similar.
Wiggle know exactly who Anna Glowinski is and they know about her Anna Nicoola brand, I very much doubt she is doing this just for a bit of attention. Anna regularly rides at races and events and has featured on ITVs Cycle Show.
I'm failing to see why people are getting on her case and being dicks about it.
No. You need to compare the design of the DHB jersey to the design ideas which Anna showed Wiggle in her office. We haven't seen the latter. The one shown in the story is an example of hers that is currently on sale which road.cc put on the story.
Yeah, we have. It's linked to in my post, she's wearing it on her facebook page today. It's this one:
https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/s526x296/10659...
Blimey. That seems to have even less in common with the dhb jersey than the one in the article.
Granted, they are both black & both feature stars but had I of seen Anna's design prior to seeing the Wiggle one, there is no way I'd have thought "Wiggle have ripped that off".
I think what might be getting people get annoyed in this instance is that Wiggle visit to her studio. If they did visit her, with the intention of buying her designs, but then came up with their own similar designs, it's absolutely a bit cheap and a bit nasty. But then, that's kind of what DHB are all about (though they have been trying to go up-market lately with gold editions and whatnot -- this kind of thing won't help them with that).
Anyway, they should probably try and come to an agreement with her and patch this over, because they don't want to be the bad guys.
As for the wannabe-design-critics here posting about how awful they are, I've seen far worse designs out there (male and female), and I suspect these could actually look pretty good in real life.
Design, singular. The one with stars on. Wiggle have a range, with spots, squares, stars and the Union Jack.
So there's a long sleeve dark jersey with variable sized stars off one shoulder and down the arm, and a short sleeve jersey with variable sized stars all over.
And there's a dhb jersey with regular sized stars on the top half.
So the question remains whether there is a design that we haven't seen that bears significantly more resemblance. If I were the social-media-happy Ms Glowinski that's the first thing I would have put out a picture of, as evidence... so is it fair to ask why she hasn't done that?
I'd be surprised if not amazed if the use of stars alone would get wiggle into any legal hot water, as a few others have said looks like a non started.
both are using a stars, but needs more than that to be honest, to be plagiarism, none of the stared tops be that wiggle's or Glowinski's look much more than cycling jerseys with stars on. beyond that they are standard cycling tops.
now that doesn't mean that wiggle where not heavly influenced, but equally they may not have been.
wut?
http://cdn.mos.musicradar.com/images/artist-news/black-sabbath/black-sab...
Opinion:
Whilst the 5 pointed star might not be unique, and the arrangement of those stars is slightly different, this Wiggle jersey looks like it could have been influenced by the original design in which case might be possible to claim the Wiggle jersey is a derivative work.
Commentary:
One of the biggest lies ever sold is that artists and designers come up unique ideas. They don't. They are massively influenced - often subconsciously - by what they experience in daily life. Just watch this Derren Brown clip if you want to see some professional creative folk in action.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YQXe1CokWqQ
Interesting that she uses the word "replica." That design I posted to is not a replica. At the best/worst it is, indeed, inspired by or a design overlap.
Have to agree the Wiggle design bears similarities to a recent USA National Championship jersey even if the use of a different colour scheme and mostly the varying sizes of stars makes it slightly similar to Anna Glowinski's.
DHB also do one that is inspired by the Union Jack. http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-blok-jack-jockey-short-sleeve-jersey/
As designers we have a limited palette of tools to use. Stars, lines, circles, etc. It's the configuration that makes it individual. Same as music. Everyone uses, drum, guitar, lyrics. Their use alone isn't plagiarism. That's ludicrous. But their use in recognisable ENOUGH patterns is. And that's the problem. What is ENOUGH? A designer pays the bills by their addition if a little originality. But is it original enough? That's the hard part. Especially because its interpretive.
...and then we all come full circle...(remember Rapha and TORM)...seems being 'inspired' is not enough...so if Rapha can 'persuade' TORM to significantly change their design, then surely the same must be said about this Wiggle/Glowinski issue...??
Surprised the americans haven't sued for use of their flag!
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