I got an interesting email from Mohammed Boland the creative behind local fashion label Capital District last night. It seems a Saudi based fashion label called Kalimah Jeans has copied one of his popular designs. He was walking at the Avenues when he spotted the familiar design in a shop display. Understandably he’s upset and he knows that very little can be done about it which must be really frustrating. I’m not sure which store in Avenues was selling the shirts but maybe if the owners found out they would be willing to withdraw the item from the store and return it to Kalimah as a way of supporting local talent.
2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
42 replies on “Imitation”
Its not the same! can not be called imitation but definitely stole the idea!
heart…
When you imitate something.. It means you’re copying.
;(
I hate when ppl do that
They don’t feel that a person really worked hard
This sucks! No respect for intellectual & copy rights whatsoever…
The store is opposite to G-Star Raw! Check the reflection in the mirror…
Someone should go talk to the store owner and explain it to him. I am sure when they know it’s a cheap fake knockoff they will stop selling it… and for the record when you want to copy a design copy it right or copy it better AT LEAST… not copy it in a way such that it looks disgusting!
Are you sure it’s Kalimah?! Cuz this is not in their collection.
https://www.kalimahbrand.com/image/pdf/fw09-10women.pdf
https://www.kalimahbrand.com/image/pdf/fw09-10men.pdf
Sorry But Kalimah is too well known to make this mistake, Sorry but they might not even know Capital District ( which I love and support) anyways they only have 1 distributor in Kuwait which they gave a couple of designs that have Kuwait on them, I emailed them myself and asked, and it wasn’t a store too.
This is there site:
https://www.kalimahbrand.com/
And this is there FB Page:
https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=41520148231
Allaho a3lam…bs I’m saying make sure that’s it 🙂
They may not remove it, but they should be made aware of what’s going on, then leave it to their conscience the next time they do business with the copycat.
this design/idea is soooo pre-historic.. I saw the same thing on a friend of mine 2 years ago.. It had the king of hearts on it.. I guess it was sold in that shop at Corniche Club!
Sorry Boland
they stole the idea and now, who’s going to pay for it
you my friend, welcome to the club
Maybe they both just designed something similar, its very possible.
Kuwait is full of copy-cats.Restaurants,coffee shops and there are even some ad agencies that steal other people’s work.
I have seen this happen in the past to a small brand I once liked based out of Boston- Johnny Cupcakes- I believe it was a large international reputable brand that copied his idea and he contacted them and they made an offical apology and pulled the design from their stock- of course this is in the US where lawsuits run rampant.
jad shay eybe6 el chabd :/
its not like its a unique one of a kind design, i’ve seen something similar at pull&bear
get over it and move on
Kalimah probably doesn’t even know they’ve got a plagiarized design. A lot of these companies hire cheap designers, sometimes even freelancers to make up for a temporary demand hike. These designers plagiarize everything, and most of the time get away with it.
And to be honest with you, there really is no way to claim copyright to a concept / design / idea. In fact, if the imitation didn’t look so crappy, I might have suggested that perhaps these two guys happened to have come across the same idea.
Just because two concepts look similar, doesn’t necessarily mean one is inspired off the other.
Of course.. Capital District is over-pricing their products. thats bound to happen.
“he knows that very little can be done about it which must be really frustrating.”
No not really, price it resonably and people will choose his products for the printing quality, for the brand, and for support of young Kuwaitis.
If they decide to make it expensive brand and only the ‘elite’ of the young people wearing it, then replicas will be produced, sold very cheap, everyone will wear them even those who don’t recognize the brand… it will not be special anymore.
I wouldn’t call KD12.5 per tshirt over priced…
If people arent bothered much by copycats, what else to do ?
3azeez, if you put a lot of time and effort into your work and someone comes along and (without giving any credit) copies it and distributes it as if it were their own it would be frustrating. As for the pricing, it is priced just right. Seeing that their products are printed in the USA.
mr boland u should do a bufak t shirt … that would be cool 🙂
You can argue that both stole the idea from the Sheraton’s complimentary deck of cards.
https://boutrosfonts.com/images/design_images/cardsl.jpg
that idea is too generic to claim, it sucks as i support kuwaiti talent, but its too vague of an idea.
@Mark, I do. If you compare your life style with a typical Kuwaiti I’d say you’re well paid and living better than the average Kuwaiti. I can’t believe I’m saying that.. but its true. lol. *knocks on wood*
@Nabil, Trust me I know how it feels when someone comes, steals your work, and then takes credit for it. I’ve been there… But we’re not talking about ‘art’. We are talking about business now. If the people behind Capital District consider their work art, then they have to accept the fact that people will make replicas. If they are talking business, then they must also consider their targeted market. They did not establish themselves and they are already selling hoodies and shirts as expensive as ones very well established. Hell I could get shirts from H&M or Debenhams for cheaper price. I would totally understand if each shirt was unique, but the truth is, the difficult work has already been done when they made the initial designs and orders, now everything is easy to them from business point of view and all it requires from them is to upload a file online and press ‘check out’ then they’ll have all their shirts delievered to them at home… I may say at the fraction of the price they’re being sold. IF they were already expensive since they don’t really have printing deals and just placing online orders like any of us, then maybe its about time the get seriously involved and find a place willing to offer wholesale prices.
Again, this is only my point of view, which is the shirts over priced and hence allowing such replicas. If they decide to make it expensive brand (yes 12 dinar is too much for a t-shirt) and only the ‘elite’ of the young people wearing it, then replicas will be produced, sold very cheap, everyone will wear them even those who don’t recognize the brand… or what ‘hip’ means.
it will not be special anymore.
PS. I really do love the brand and proud of it.. sux they dont have larger sizes 🙂
It was the Replay store! I was passing by on the weekend and saw the tshirt. Was surprised to see another brand in the replay store!
No they are not copies.
capital district does not have burqa LOL
iLSuL6ana: yes it is kelmah i also saw it..
3azeez: KD12.5 is over priced and the replica is KD 19 loool check ur source’s awal my friend, besides where r u leaving the cheapest shirts we see in Kuwait is KD 20 Capital District is a great price and mashallah if was over priced chan not all the products are sold out.. AM PRO Capital District!! U ROCK;)
Eden: Captical District Does have a “burqa”
I’m sorry I don’t see anything special about this design. If u mean the design of the Q on the card I can’t tell u for sure but I did see very similar designs long time ago
The idea is soo old having cards or dice or 8ball on the tishirt
12.5kd is expenive for a tishirt don’t compar brand names which will cost 20kd or so with capital coz they sell u the brand and then the dealers in q8 add more and it comes out even more.
My mom is an interior designer I saw many of her work that she never made just drew it some time later few years may pass and u see very similer design on tv
I’m not attacking but wat I wan to say if ur desings r original and ur product is better don’t have to worry about copyies
and try to open ur factory here so u can give us better prices 🙂
Wish u all the best
All of a sudden when copyright infringement happens to us we are outraged…meanwhile every single person in kuwait has no problem going to Jabriya dvd store and buying bootlegged dvds or downloading songs illegally…just saying.
Capital District is not overpriced.
I’m sure the creative designer wants to maintain a certain standard in the clothing/products he provides, which includes materials and designs that are both high in quality and originality.
Plus, the imitation looks like crap. It’s white on white and you can barely realize the patterns on that shirt, whearas Capital District realizes this issue and tackles it by using a colored shirt. Now that’s creativity.
Props to Mohammed and Capital District.
I am sorry to inform you that Capital District has copied this cliche design ! it is an old design made by many designers so both are not creative a all :O)
A t-shirt should be no more than $20, and that’s pushing it.
Joesbox: i am sure Capital District is not that kind of a person,copying other peoples work,bs anywho best of LUCK to everyone and Capital District,Keep ur head held high, and every1 is entitled to their opinion:)
Hahaha 12kd is expensive for a t shirt? What kind of ages are readers on this blog? 9?
BA Check this plz :
https://www.hauntedflower.com/The-Dark-Knight-Heath-Ledger-Joker/M/B0035C8R3C.htm?traffic_src=froogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=froogle
https://www.sojones.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/streetlevelclothing.jpg
https://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://images4.cafepress.com/product/345220244v5_150x150_Front_Color-Yellow.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.cafepress.com/opheliasart/778155&usg=__pH7iDQ8B1V3uPtaTbbSwSyuFkiw=&h=150&w=150&sz=11&hl=en&start=121&sig2=twWTtoysIvcZKGjnkb23sg&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=rRJrKdOqngKKkM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dplay%2Bcard%2Bon%2Bt%2Bshirt%26start%3D120%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=-6WxS434JJzQmgPe0JyNBA
Aww that’s the only piece from that Capital District that I actually like. It looks a lot better than the latter though so I don’t see the big deal. That one in the store window looks trashy, like something you’d buy for 900 fils from the shops downtown.
Joe: We all know cards have been used on tshirts before. what is original here is using a woman in niqab as the queen
So tomorrow i will print on my t shirt a women naked as a queen! so plz call me innovative artist 😛 !!
yeah you’re not getting it…
@Samurai:
“And to be honest with you, there really is no way to claim copyright to a concept / design / idea”
It all depends where you live. This happened in the UK 5 years ago, but the law is over 20 years old. More importantly, it’s enforced.
Every season, fashion stores in the UK start taking each other to court…
https://www.out-law.com/page-5577