UKFE joins BCIA as dreams begin to come true

Retail Bulletin reports that, in the first phase of his plan to create a single voice for the fashion and textile industry Peter Lucas, chairman of the British Clothing Industry Association (BCIA), has announced that UK Fashion Exports (UKFE) has been brought into the BCIA and that talks are progressing well with representatives of the textile sector. The combined expertise of BCIA and UKFE is said to be able to provide members with a wide range of services covering legal, technical, health and safety and employment issues, not to mention import/export, sales and marketing, shows and exhibitions and training and development. Adds Lucas:

"There are many other organisations that do a number of these things, but it would be more efficient if we did a lot more of them together, so that when we, the industrialists get together, there are a significant number of us at the same place and time to share our experiences, rather than us participating in a series of smaller gatherings".

Fashionista feels that this all adds up to a lot of sense. The British fashion industry is already divided up into so many sectors, each with so many players in it; anything that makes best use of shared resources and avoids duplication of effort and expertise is surely to be welcomed.

Of Sleeves and Arms

Oscar-winning British actress Dame Helen Mirren may be set to get her own M&S fashion label. Having previously bemoaned the fact that designers fail to make dresses with sleeves suitable for older women, when asked if she would accept an offer from M&S to have her own label she said "Oh yes", adding that she would call it "DWS: Dresses With Sleeves". M&S's Stuart Rose has described the idea as interesting and did not deny it.

Fashionista thinks the idea of DWS is surely tongue-in-cheek. She knows those initials stand for "dripping with sarcasm" and "divided we stand". More to the point, given Dame Helen's outstanding portrayal of Her Majesty The Queen, M&S should check out the conditions under which manufacturers of fashion apparel might seek the Royal Warrant and with it the chance to reproduce the Royal Arms.

But do catwalks have nine lives?

The Telegraph's fashion director Hilary Alexander wonders whether the catwalk may itself be going out of fashion in these cash-strapped times. It seems that American designer Marc Bouwer is planning a webcast for next February's New York Fashion Week, costing US$60,000 as opposed to $200,000 for a catwalk show, and that lots of very fashionable folk have been saying all along that they really wanted to try an alternative that wastes less time or proves some other point.

Another point that's just occurred to Fashionista is that someone, somewhere should be paying lower insurance premiums if the risk of stiletto-wearing models losing their balance, injuring both themselves and the creations they are displaying, is reduced.

Skechers Croc'd?

It's got holes in it -- but is it a Croc? The answer's "no". After indulging in some carefully-phrased hostilities, Crocs Inc and Skechers USA Inc have announced the settlement of all litigation between them in a patent infringement suit brought by Crocs. The terms of the settlement agreement apply to all outstanding litigation in respect of Croc's shoe technology anywhere in the world and appear to result in Skechers concentrating on its core styles in place of more Croc-like footwear.

Fashionista says: when it comes to footwear, IP-savvy people thinks of trade mark rights, designs and copyright and (apart from fame, fortune and glamour) not much besides -- but for anyone who takes a nerdish delight in these things, a search through granted patents reveals that there's a huge chunk of patented technology attached to the ergonomic shape of shoes, the functionality of their soles and the industrial processes for making them.

Keywords v Trade Marks -- let the battle commence.....

Given the growth of the online channel, all fashion retailers have been forced to learn all about SEO (search engine optimisation). One way to drive traffic to your website is through the purchase of keywords using Google's Adwords programme. In May this year Google changed its policy to allow advertisers to buy their competitor's trade marks as keywords. Yesterday Interflora issued proceedings against Marks & Spencers and Flowers Direct Online over their purchase of the "Interflora" mark (and various misspellings of the mark) as Google keywords.

Although brand-owners complain that competitors are trading off their goodwill and reputation by buying their trade marks as Google keywords, others argue that Google is promoting competition and consumers are not confused - they know the difference between a natural search result and a sponsored link. While that may be the case, Fashionista sees keywords as virtual signposts, and can't imagine the Courts allowing M&S to put an Interflora sign in their shop window, so why should the rules be different online?


Brands including Louis Vuitton have taken action against Google in France for selling keywords that were identical to their trade marks. While, in most of these cases, Google lost the first round, it has appealed the French decisions and three references to the European Court of Justice are currently pending. These references give M&S and Flowers Direct the basis to request a stay of Interflora's claim until the ECJ delivers its ruling.



While we are unlikely to get clear guidance from the Courts on this issue in the near future, now that Interflora has decided to take legal action, businesses may think twice before bidding on a competitor's trade mark as a Google keyword.

Law on Laur

Fashionista has just been reading an enjoyable "life in a minute" bio-feature on a genuine "Law" fashionista -- Natasha Law (you can read it here too, on Times Online). Having now recovered from the disappointment of learning that Ms Law's daily routine does not involve a trip to her lawyers to have the highlights in her design rights freshened, she is consoled by the confession that Ms Law has her eyes on a treasured piece of design antiquity. when asked, "If you could steal a wardrobe from anyone - past or present, fictional or real - whose would it be and why?", she replied:

"Lauren Bacall, whom I have loved and aspired to be like in vain since I was about 13: the hair, the suits, the dresses".

The Fashionista has some good news for her. Lauren Bacall's heyday as a fashion icon was the 1940s, which suggests that -- whatever the jurisdiction and whatever the type of legal right that originally protected the contents of that coveted wardrobe -- a little due diligence should uncover a large amount of clothing that is now nestling firmly in the public domain.

Keeping cool in KL, the Islamic way

It's not just regular laws that designers and fashion houses have to contend with -- in some places there are religious laws and customary norms too. In "Funky Islamic fashion struts conservative catwalk", Sean Yoong reports on the scene in Kuala Lumpur, where Muslim shoppers are being treated to an exciting range of colours and designs on garments that combine sartorial elegance with the demands of modesty and religious belief. The article states:

"Fashion gurus say Islamic apparel is a fast-growing segment of their worldwide industry, fueled by growing numbers of affluent, liberal Muslims who want to balance propriety with style and globally renowned designers such as Elie Saab whose creations can fulfill religious rules".

A notable export market is the United States, where Muslim women are said to "want to be a little bit more trendy than what is being given to them from Yemen." Elie Saab plans to expand her collections to other countries with sizable Muslim populations, such as China and France. Even non-Muslim designers are getting in on the action: a case in point is the ethnic Chinese Malaysian Lee Khoon Hooi, whose idiosyncratic zipper necklaces and tulip-shaped gowns have been sold in boutiques from Beverly Hills to Taipei.