A new type of lowlife...kilt related

[ccga3359]

Wow, I like that car. It is a car, right? Or is it some kind of boat? Still, I like.

It is a car a 3 wheeler, a Reliant Robin but my all time fav was the Bond Bug 3.

[Canuck]

So let me get this right...

Someone has attended a public festival and has taken a photograph of one of your products. They have then photoshopped it, so even you had difficulty recognising it as your own item. They have then used this photograph to portray goods that they are having produced somewhere else, which they are selling at a fraction of the price of your own goods. Imagine all the money I could make doing that. I'm too blonde

They have not grabbed the picture from your website.

Nappa leather is a term that has been in use since 1921 if not earlier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nappa_leather). It is a high quality leather renowned for softness and durability and is often used for car upholstery - because of its longevity.

If this character is known as Isaac, and I've seen the right ebay listing, then he hasn't claimed that the picture is actually the garment he is selling - nor has he disclaimed this either. He is not claiming that this is one of your products.

If I am understanding right, then I don't see what he has done that is wrong? Bit lazy, maybe, but wrong?

Unless he has actually produced an item that is clearly intended to look like one of your design protected* garments and endeavoured to pass it off as such then has he broken the law in the US?

* They ARE design protected, I trust?

Without seeing the real thing, which may not look anything like yours, I don't understand what his crime is?

Are people going to look at his product and say; "Hey that's one of rkilts garments going at a cheap price?" Maybe to an afficianado, but otherwise?

Sorry, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but if he is able to produce these with genuine nappa leather at $129 perhaps the question to be asking yourself is HOW and whether you can learn from him, as he's obviously found a good source of cheap leather tailoring.

I'd love to join the lynching party, but I have a feeling you need to change the law first before you take it into your own hands.

Best wishes, Graham.

Graham I recognized the kilt right away. They photoshopped the hanger and person holding the kilt out of the picture.
By posting that picture he is implying to you the consumer that this is the garment you are getting to the last detail
Using my ebay account I asked the seller a question. I asked if the kilt pictured is the one I would get. He replied yes.
Yes I have the design registered in Canada as for the U.S. that's a different ballgame and different laws
I referred him to the website to illustrate that the pictures of the kilts are the same design.
No they haven't taken the picture from my website. They walked into my store space and took a picture of my product. They didn't buy it then take it home and take a picture of it.

Yes I should take up the many offers from the offshore companies and have them make my design of kilt and sell them. What am I thinking! I'm crazy spending hours sewing a tailored garment when I could get some other person to do it for pennies. Heck wouldn't have to spend time with a customer, show them how their kilt is going to be made. Wouldn't have to hand pick the hides myself. I could use the nappa leather that has been refinished a number of times.

So why is it my nose is out of joint? I just wonder why they can't take a picture of their own product and post it? It's what I do. It's what most of the merchants you value here do.


As for the lynching....hmm don't think so

Isaac has a right to do business, that's cool, it would be nice if he were ethical.....

As to the Pakistani Company that are using photos of my product I'm in contact with them and they are dealing with it.

In the grand scheme of things there are better things to worry about, like waking up tomorrow

[Cavebear58]

Using my ebay account I asked the seller a question. I asked if the kilt pictured is the one I would get. He replied yes...

Yes I have the design registered in Canada as for the U.S. that's a different ballgame and different laws....

Yes I should take up the many offers from the offshore companies and have them make my design of kilt and sell them. What am I thinking! I'm crazy spending hours sewing a tailored garment when I could get some other person to do it for pennies. Heck wouldn't have to spend time with a customer, show them how their kilt is going to be made. Wouldn't have to hand pick the hides myself. I could use the nappa leather that has been refinished a number of times....

So why is it my nose is out of joint? I just wonder why they can't take a picture of their own product and post it? It's what I do. It's what most of the merchants you value here do....

Thanks Ron.

I do see where you are coming from. It certainly seems unbelievably odd to go to the trouble of visiting you, photographing the kilt, presumably copying the design, commissioning products, etc, only to THEN use the original photograph rather than taking one of his own product.

In your original post, I didn't see the bit that he had said this was THE item that you were going to win if you bid for it. eBay is a bit odd for this - i've often seen kiltie bits that are described as "this is the one you'll get" and then seen that they have multiple items for sale! Given that he has said that, I TOTALLY agree that he is breaking eBay's rules.

I'm glad that you have the design registered. In my work we deal only in ideas and I have to smile when I see the antics folks get up to 'protecting' something quite trivial. I have become quite blase about it - I realise that the same isn't true in manufacturing.

I don't know who the North American equivalents would be, but in the UK at some stage, Messrs Marks, Spencer, Burton, and a host of others had to decide whether to continue to measure men for suits and to maintain a room of tailors and seamstresses or to 'outsource' production. I don't hold it against a company for doing so, provided that certain human rights are maintained. In some cases, I'm afraid, I've come across bespoke hand tailored suits that have been poorer quality than those made somewhere in the developing nations. I don't think you can even say that "what you get is what you pay for".

For some reason, the kilt industry seems to do an enormous amount of photographic copying. I mentioned it a couple of says ago in a post. I even saw the same photo being used to ilustrate one of the c.r.a.p. kilts and one of the "Our kilts are far superior than the c.r.a.p. ones" kilts. Sadly, the latter was on the website of one of the XMarks members sites!

As you say, there's bigger issues. I wonder what you could take from this experience that would help your own business step into another league (if you felt inclined to do so)?

All the best, Graham.

[Canuck]

Thanks Ron.

snip.....
As you say, there's bigger issues. I wonder what you could take from this experience that would help your own business step into another league (if you felt inclined to do so)?

All the best, Graham.

I guess for one, discourage a person from taking a picture of the product in my retail space and offer them a business card that directs them to the website that has photo's that are watermarked and copyrighted.
Maintain my code of conduct and ethics. other companies come and go, the marketplace will determine to the extent they are successful or not.
Cheers
Robert

[sathor]

I guess for one, discourage a person from taking a picture of the product in my retail space and offer them a business card that directs them to the website that has photo's that are watermarked and copyrighted.
Maintain my code of conduct and ethics. other companies come and go, the marketplace will determine to the extent they are successful or not.
Cheers
Robert

Make the tags more prominent, in a special shape? I do find it odd that the seller had a perfect rating, seems, well, odd.

[MacHummel]

Robert I think I know who your talking aout a slightly similar situation happen to me this summer lets do kilt night .

[Canuck]

Robert I think I know who your talking aout a slightly similar situation happen to me this summer lets do kilt night .

Yes we can compare notes. When I contacted the other merchant whose product pictures are featured they seemed to know as well.

[Riverkilt]

Methinks the gentleman had no idea of his geographic proximity to you and that alone will rivet his attention. Hopefully, positive change awaits.

Ron

[Canuck]

I'm not looking for sympathy. It's another lesson learned in the world of business. I make mistakes and hopefully I can garner some wisdom from them.
I think this instance came out of left field.

There is another thing at play here. This is a tangent. I know of merchants that will say they only purchase items from Scotland. It could be a sporran, it's amazing, that the sporran they have on offer is identical to the one I have just received from South Asia as a sample. So you the consumer having been told the item was purchased from Scotland believe it to be true, I on the other hand have access to information that you don't.
Bottom line is the item came from Scotland end of story.

I'm going to stick to making my own goods. I know where it came from.

Thanks for the input. Always learning
Cheers
Robert

[sathor]

There is another thing at play here. This is a tangent. I know of merchants that will say they only purchase items from Scotland. It could be a sporran, it's amazing, that the sporran they have on offer is identical to the one I have just received from South Asia as a sample. So you the consumer having been told the item was purchased from Scotland believe it to be true, I on the other hand have access to information that you don't.
Bottom line is the item came from Scotland end of story.

I know the product on my website was from the US. I know they got some of it from Belize. I still got it from America. Its just knowing where it started, and where it stopped along the way...