Feeling like a dummy. After boycotting UO for their involvement in suing a friends business, now Villagers, for its use of the word TERRAIN (ludicrous), I am ashamed to say I responded to a sample request from Free People for one of my ornaments which they wanted to potentially use for a Christmas collection, thinking that wholesaling ornaments would be a quick, easy job. I paid to overnight the ornament at the request of the buyer for it to arrive in time for an important review meeting. The UPS Code she gave me didnt work (the woman at UPS told me they hadnt allowed access to business accounts in 5 years) and I promptly requested to be reimbursed for my costs. Free People informed me that they would not be purchasing any ornaments (giving me bogus reason-that the embossing wouldnt show up on images on their website EVEN THOUGH they liked it enough to request samples from an internet image that I took) and, after a few emails, responded to my request to return samples and refund my money, which I invoiced them for via Paypal right away at the buyers request. Now, more than a month later, I have yet to receive the samples OR the refund, and my pleas and emails are all ignored. After a little more research, I am finding MANY stories of copyright infringement where artists such as myself have had their samples kept and designs later produced without their knowledge or consent. I believe this is the case for me, and I fully expect to see my lace snowflake ornament on the Free People website come December. I realize I may never be reimbursed for my huge shipping bill and will probably never see these samples again. Tomorrow, we will harass them on the phone one last time... This status serves as a warning to any artist considering doing business with an Urban Outfitters affiliated company. They will not hesitate to make you jump through hoops for them, give you a bogus reason for not carrying your item, ignore your requests, and steal your design. I feel stupid for not following my gut and letting the potential for a little extra money cloud my judgement and values...I should have never considered partnering with this company in the first place, knowing all of its atrocities against independent artists and their intellectual property. I will not win in a lawsuit against Free People, and for that reason, they now have my design and will most likely make money off of it. I, in turn, have learned a valuable lesson.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 04:20:59 +0000
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