Counterfeit Fashion Design

Everyday I wake up and go through my morning routine: get up, brush my teeth, and get dressed. The last of which usually includes standing in front of my closet for fifteen minutes staring at my clothes, trying to figure out what to wear. I spend a lot of time thinking about what clothes will match with each other, or what clothes are most comfortable, but I hardly ever think about where they come from and the process by which they come to be. For something that is so commonly used, people hardly think about where their clothes actually come from.

Tracing back to the beginning of clothing design, clothes first begin their origination in the hands of the designer. Designers use trends to help them manufacture new garments each season, and their high fashion clothing is displayed on runway shows. Because of high prices, clothing piracy has become a rising problem for designers, and with the advancement of technology, pirating clothing has become that much easier. With a simple snap of a photo, a person can easily mimic the garment. Mass production and sale of that garment occurs before the original even hits stores because designers debut their clothing one season in advance . This makes the designer’s work much more difficult because by the time their apparel has made it to stores, consumers are not interested or fazed; they have already seen this type of clothing and have been wearing it for some time.

Walking on the streets of New York City, it is not uncommon to see dozens of tables selling pirated goods. Piracy has become so normal to us that we forget that it is illegal, and we do not realize that we are negatively affecting designers. The designers do not gain the support that they should when people buy pirated goods. People who like the attire of specific creators should support them and buy the clothing from them. Without that support, designers will not make enough revenue to continue in working, and both the designers and supporters will suffer. It is especially difficult for new designers because they have not yet made a name for themselves, and are often tight on money; when people buy pirated goods, the designer does not receive those payments, and may not be able to continue designing after some time. These creators should have laws that protect them from piracy, so that they can be sure that they gain compensation for their original work. Piracy has been a continuing problem for some time now, but strides have been made in the United States in attempt to give protection to designers. The Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act (IDPPPA) is a bill that is being considered by Congress to give designers copyright for their work (286-287). Currently, the United States is the only major fashion country that does not have laws protecting original designs. For example, Europe has the European Union, which makes sure that there are laws that give designers a copyright for their clothes for three to five years, depending on if they register them or not, and they can ask for a longer copyright as well (287). The United States currently only gives copyrights and trademarks to textile designs that have a certain pattern or print, fine art, such as paintings, and creative works, such as literature. The main reason why clothing is not included is because clothing is utilitarian, whereas the previously mentioned objects are pieces of art and are not easily replaced .

This continuing debate of whether or not fashion designs are pieces of art is a large part of the reason why there has not been a conclusion in the IDPPPA. One side argues that clothing is art because the designers are using creativity and innovation to create unique garments, and the opposite side argues that clothing is not art because people do not wear it as art; they wear it to cover up and to stay warm. Ilse Metchek, president of the California Fashion Association, adds that trends come, go, and come back, so piracy is not really a problem because all designers have done the same thing (Jackson). Designers that deal with pirates that mimic their clothing exactly and sell it as a product of the designer, would disagree with Metchek’s argument. When their clothing is being copied exactly, it does not matter whether or not the trend is popular or was previously popular, and for designers who deal with pirates who make similar clothing, they are just trying to uphold the uniqueness and originality of their garments. Whether or not clothing is considered art, the addition of the IDPPPA would be a great benefit to designers. They would gain monetary support for their work and gain copyrights to keep their work unique.

Lawsuits are ways in which firms try to keep their designs as unique as possible and exclusive to their company. However, lawsuits become very difficult to prove because of the complexity and details of the garment. For example, Louis Vuitton tried to sue Dooney & Bourke for its use of the repetition of initials on their purses, which looked similar to those of Vuitton. In the end, Vuitton was unable to prove anything because the purses looked different when the initials were removed (Tu 436). Even though the purses are different, the letters are what most people notice first, not the design of the purse. Vuitton suffers from the decision of the case, even though he has a substantial argument about the similarities of the two purses. In this case, and many other cases, proving that a company copied a similar idea is extremely difficult because of the technicalities involved. Also, if a company alters a design or print only slightly, it cannot be proven that the company copied that design from elsewhere. This is what allows “fast-fashion chains like H&M and Zara” to create clothing that mimics high fashion designs while avoiding large lawsuits at the same time (Barker).

Fashion design is a creative process, and should be considered an art, as each design is original and unique. In the United States, clothing designers do not have the high amount of respect as artists do in other countries (Jackson). Their work is creative and innovative, and should be treated as original work and with respect. One difficulty that designers face is gaining a copyright or trademark on a design. Even if designers could get copyrights for their clothing, it would be much more complicated than obtaining one for songs, paintings, and books because of the short lifespan of a design. A song or painting lasts for a long time; people can listen to a song or look at a painting for years and years, whereas a piece of clothing will go out of style as trends are constantly coming and going. Currently, trends are coming and going faster than ever, and they tend to reappear after a number of years. Trends used to take a year or two to spread across countries, but now it only takes one season for a trend to pop up and a year or less for that trend to disappear (Barker). Because trends are passing by so quickly, it seems unreasonable for designers to try to get a copyright because of how long it takes to get one. An average collection contains about forty pieces and most design houses produce two collections a year, so copyrighting each one requires a lot of time and effort.

Although the setbacks to preventing design piracy are quite large, one should not discount the necessity for it. Designers deserve to be credited for their work and keep the originality of their work. As laws have been made to prevent the piracy of art, film, and music, clothing design should be able to follow suit, as it is part a creative industry, not just utilitarian. However, we cannot just leave it up to the government to fix this issue; everyone can make simple lifestyle changes in order to help designers. We can stop buying pirated clothing to support the designers we like, and encourage our friends to think about where their clothing comes from and the effects of buying pirated goods. Clothing is an everyday essential, and as the clothing industry moves forward, it is important that we support and protect those who started it all: the designers.

Technology and Water

Water covers almost 75% of the earth’s surface and is undoubtedly our most precious natural resource that exists on our planet today. There won’t be any living organism on our planet without water. Water Pollution occurs when a body of water is severely affected due to addition of large amount of materials to the water.[Missouri Botanical Garden]

Pollution such as sewage and fertilizers contain nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates. At high levels, nutrients can over stimulate the growth of aquatic plants and algae. Excessive growth of these types of organisms consequently clogs our waterways, use up dissolved oxygen as they decompose, and block light to deeper waters.[David Krantz] This could be very harmful to aquatic organisms as it affects the respiration ability of fish and other creatures of the sea. Pollution is also caused when silt and other suspended solids, such as soil, washoff plowed fields, construction and logging sites, urban areas, and eroded river banks when it rains.[David Krantz] Pollution in the form of organic material enters waterways in many different forms as sewage, as leaves and grass clippings, or as runoff from livestock feedlots and pastures. When natural bacteria and protozoan in the water break down this organic material, they begin to use up the oxygen dissolved in the water. Many types of fish and bottom-dwelling animals cannot survive when levels of dissolved oxygen drop below two to five parts per million. When this occurs, it kills a lot of aquatic organisms which leads to unbalance in our food chain. Pathogens are another type of pollution that can be very harmful. They can cause many illnesses such as minor respiratory and skin diseases. Pathogens include such organisms as bacteria, viruses, and protozoan. These pollutants enter waterways through untreated sewage, storm drains, septic tanks, runoff from farms, and particularly boats that dump sewage. Though microscopic, these pollutants have a tremendous effect evidenced by their ability to cause sickness.[David Krantz] Air is also one of the main causes of water pollution. Because, when the air is polluted it also affects the water, thus making them correlated.

The major sources of water pollution can be classified as municipal, industrial, and agricultural. Municipal water pollution consists of waste water from homes and commercial establishments.[Ken Rubin] The main goal of treating municipal wastewater was simply to reduce its content of suspended solids, oxygen-demanding materials, dissolved inorganic compounds, and harmful bacteria. The basic methods of treating municipal wastewater fall into three stages: primary treatment, includes grit removal, screening, grinding, and sedimentation; secondary treatment, includes oxidation of dissolved organic matter by means of using biologically active sludge, which is then filtered off; and last treatment, is where advanced biological methods of nitrogen removal and chemical and physical methods such as granular filtration and activated carbon absorption are employed.[Ken Rubin] The handling and disposal of solid residues can account for 25 to 50 percent of the capital and operational costs of a treatment plant. The characteristics of industrial waste waters can differ considerably both within and among industries. The impact of industrial discharges depends not only on their collective characteristics, such as biochemical oxygen demand and the amount of suspended solids, but also on their content of specific inorganic and organic substances. Three options are available in controlling industrial wastewater.[Ken Rubin] Control can take place at the point of generation in the plant; wastewater can be pretreated for discharge to municipal treatment sources; or wastewater can be treated completely at the plant and either reused or discharged directly into receiving waters.[Ken Rubin] Agriculture, including commercial livestock and poultry farming, is the source of many organic and inorganic pollutants in surface waters and groundwater. These contaminants include both sediment from erosion cropland and compounds of phosphorus and nitrogen that partly originate in animal wastes and commercial fertilizers.[Ken Rubin]

The effects of water pollution are not only devastating to mankind, but also to the animals, because almost all living organisms need water to survive. Polluted water is unsuitable for drinking, agriculture, and industry. Contaminated water destroys all aquatic life and greatly reduces their ability to reproduce. Eventually, it will become a major problem to human health.[Caroline Camic] The government has passed laws in recent years in order to control water pollution. In 1970, the clear water act provided 50 billion dollars to cities and states to build wastewater facilities. This act significantly reduced water pollution for 5 years.[Caroline Camic] The UNEP, also known as “the environmental conscience of the United Nations”, attempts to allay fears of the new technological world. UNEP’s major focus is to study of ways to encourage sustainable development increasing standards of living without destroying the environment [Caroline Camic]

There are numerous reasons that I could provide to explain why I chose water pollution as my topic of research. But my main reason is because, back when I lived in India, our town had problems with getting water due to water pollution. Since the majority of the population is poor, there were high casualties. I used this project as my opportunity to explore the causes and effects of water pollution and share my views and feelings with the rest of the class.

After analyzing the effects of water pollution, we can clearly see the problems associated with it and how it is capable of disturbing the life our planet to a great extent. Even though, congress has passed laws and measures are taken to combat water pollution, we still cannot fully eradicate water pollution. It is up to us, as the people of planet earth, to keep this land clear.[Peter Kaminsky] Curing water pollution is not an impossible task, but it needs a lot of cooperation and years of patience and responsibilities. With the technologies that we posses today, the years of water mistreatment can be reversed, with a little bit of cooperation.[Peter Kaminsky]

Water Pollution

Mega Farms Effects On Water

Water pollution has been an increasing problem over the last few years. Pollution itself is when a substance or energy is introduced into the soil, air, or water in a concentrate. Pollution comes in many forms; agricultural, urban runoff, industrial, sedimentary, animal wastes, and leeching from landfills/septic systems just to name a few. These pollutants are very detrimental to the environment. Whether they are alone or combined with another form of pollution they are very harmful. Over the last hundred years the problems with pollution have been increasing with time. This is due to both the increase in human population, and the increases in technology we have made as a society. If we plan on having our resources here for many years to come we are going to have to make some drastic changes in the way we treat the earth, and these changes will have to start with our pollutants. (Jones,1993,pp.4-15)

Agricultural pollution is a very big contributor to water pollution. Problems we see with agriculture are applications of fertilizers, insecticides, and pesticides. We have made vast improvements in the types of chemicals we are using, as to how environmentally friendly they are. In 1985 the amount of fertilizer added to America’s fields was 11.5 million tons. Not only do these chemicals leech in to the soil, but they are also swept off the soils by rain and wind. When these fertilizers reach the water there is a sudden boom in plant growth. When the plants die, bacteria that need oxygen to live eat their bodies. This starts to deplete the amount of oxygen in the water for other fish and animals to live and breath, and they end up dying. Besides the chemical contamination on the farm there are major problems with animal wastes. (Jones,1993,pp.39-60)

Over the last 30 or so years there has been an increased demand for food. Foods like pork, chicken, turkey, and beef. With the demand for meats, there is also an increased demand for grains to feed these animals. So more land is needed to grow the feed, less space is available for the feedlots. More and more of these feedlots have been popping up over the landscape. And the amounts of animals crammed into the small spaces are also increasing. There can be as few as 50 to as many as 7 million in a single confinement. It is estimated that the amount of livestock waste is 13 times greater than the amount of human sanitary waste generated in the United States (Hoag,1999,pp28-29). Think about the total amount of wastes produced in a day at one of these confinements. This waste is either pumped into bins, earthen lagoons, or spread onto fields as fertilizer. These waste storage facilities pose a great threat to the environment. Animal waste contains many polluants that can contaminate surface and ground water used as drinking water source. The greatest health concern associated with livestock is pathogens. Organisms like Cryptosporidium, E.Coli, Giardia lamblia and Salmonella can infect humans if ingested. Particularly strains of E. coli can cause serious illness and even death. Cryptosporidium is of particular concern because it is highly resistant to disinfections with chlorine. Animal waste contains many other pollutants that affect humans and water quality. Antibiotics, pesticides and hormones also used in animal feeding operations can become harmful pollutants as well. (Johnson,1991,pp.68-99).

A lagoon, or waste storage pond is made by excavating earth fill to provide temporary storage of animal waste. This practice can reduce the amount of organics, pathogens and nutrients entering surface waters, however, most of the lagoons are not properly constructed and maintained allowing manure to seep into the ground contaminating the ground water. They can also break causing a major spill. In 1995 a North Carolina hog farm had a lagoon break through its side and spill into the New York River. The lagoon held approximately 25 million gallons of feces and urine. When these spills occur the animal life in the body of water they pollute is wiped out. The manure kills the fish just as the fertilizers do. They produce a major algae bloom, and when the plants die they produce a large amount of bacteria that use up the oxygen in the water causing the fish and other animals to die. (Keller,2002,pp.333)

Lagoons have three distinct zones containing liquids, sludge and solids. These wastes can later be pumped out and applied to cropland as fertilizer. Because of the risk to ground water, good planning, design, and maintenance are critical when using a lagoon for animal waste storage. Two important components are the location and the liner of the lagoon. Lagoons should be located down slope from wells and never sited on floodplains. Lagoon should be constructed with a low-permeability liner made of synthetic material or geo-textiles or formed by compacted clay or other soil material. After the liner is made it is important to maintain its integrity during the waste removal process. Any erosion can lead to seepage and contamination of ground water. Two practices to protect the liner are building a concrete access ramp for waste removal equipment and operating equipment under dry conditions by first removing all the liquids and letting the solids dry. (Johnson,1991, pp.68-82)

Another large contributor to water pollution is industrial runoff. Industrial pollution has been a big problem for many years. Though strict laws are cutting down the amount of pollutants being dispersed into the rivers and lakes. Thousands of different industries are dumping hazardous wastes into our rivers and lakes in the form of tainted waters. They use the water for cleaning or cooling purposes, and with the dangerous pollutants still in the water it is just pumped out. Many different forms of pollutants such as benzene, chlorotoluene, ethylbenzene, nitrobenzene, styrene, trichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride are being found in our drinking water. Many of these chemicals are being monitored because of how dangerous they are. (Jones 1993,63-73)

These pollution problems we are facing today are being monitored by hundreds of different agencies, which enforce many different laws. These laws were started to help to protect the environment. Things like the Clean Water Act of 1972 help to protect the nations waters. This act sets specific standards for pollution control and water quality. Its two main goals are to eliminate the pollutants that are dumped into the nation’s water, and to achieve fishable and swimmable water. This act was the first of many that have been passed to ensure water quality. The safe drinking water act of 1974 is another important act that was passed. This act made maximum levels of pollutants in the drinking water, and gave the EPA the right to enforce these standards. It also recommended certain ways to treat the contaminated water. There are hundreds of different acts and amendments that try to protect and improve the quality of our nations water. We spend huge amounts of money trying to improve and treat our water. (Keller, 2002,pp.353-354)

The problems we face with pollution today are very important. Important enough for the government to pass many acts and amendments to control the amounts of pollutants that are released into our waterways. This problem has been growing with time. Though pollution is such a widespread problem we can do our part in cleaning up the world by just doing one small thing at a time.