The Activist

Issue date: 10/29/07 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Designers of these knockoffs have absolutely no shame in telling you that they are indeed taking original ideas. On an online article for the International Herald Tribune, Seema Anand, owner and "designer" of Simonia Fashions, was quoted as saying, "If I see something on Style.com, all I have to do is e-mail the picture to my factory and say, 'I want something similar, or a silhouette made just like this." Her factory then manufactures the item and can deliver it to stores months before the original, more expensive version.

So to support or not support the designer labels? That is the question the Council of Fashion Designers of America is posing to us. If, like most people, you have bills on top of bills and not a lot of money to spend on that Kelly bag that totals about three months' rent, you could care less.

I personally own a few designer items that may have set me back, but I still have no problem choosing a $30 fake over a $300 original. Fashion designers should consider the knockoff game their personal fuel to produce better, hotter styles.

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