san francisco | academy of art university |
March 2014 volume 2 | page 17
STYLE FURNITURE DESIGN
Courtesy of Jorge Ibarra.
contest with his MOCA collection. Ibarra’s inspiration, much like Harris’, was an Italian food—in his case, the dessert tiramisu. “My goal was for the forms, materials and colors
found in the pieces of the MOCA collection to be a reflection of the idea that tiramisu is ‘simple yet classic’ and overall Italian,” he stated. Ibarra said that his reason for studying furni-
ture design is that he believes “furniture should be both aesthetically pleasing and useful, which is always an interesting balance to find,” and his motivation is to find that balance in his
work. Harris and Ibarra as well as their fellow Furniture Design students are clearly on the right track to finding that balance and producing more excellent work during their time at AAU and in the
design industry.
Megan Riley is the Administrative Assistant in the School of Industrial Design.
KATARINA FARLEY
Trend reaction
Graphic tee designer and AAU alumnus Katarina Farley shares her experience working for Abercrombie & Fitch By Malcolm Thomas
Katarina Farley.
These days finding a job can be a full-time job, and finding a job in fashion, well, that can be just as challenging. “Be fluid, flexible, and open minded,” advised Katarina Farley, an Academy of Art University alumnus, who received her degree in Fashion Design. “It’s great to learn something different, and the more skills you can put on your resume, the better. Besides, you may discover some hidden talents along the way!” A current employee on the design team at Abercrombie & Fitch, Farley is responsible for the design and layering of graphic tees for women. The mass-market tween and teenage retailer is no stranger to controversy, however, Farley couldn’t be more thrilled with her current position at the brand.
“It’s hard to know what goes on behind the doors of any major fashion retailer, so judgment is quite natural in the fashion industry as a whole,” she said. “But, I do know that I believe in the products I create at Abercrombie, and I have a passion for and believe in the Abercrombie brands. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been asked to be here! I love what I do.” A mundane nine to five, this is not. “No two days are the same here, which is what keeps things fresh and exciting!” Farley said. “If I could describe a typical day … I like to get in early. I read street style blogs, WGSN and Stylesight reports. For graphic tees; we have to be able to react to trends very quickly, as well as set trends that we are excited about. “Another part of a typical day is fitting our garments. I
personally love fit sessions. This is where we really see the product come to life from a 2-D sketch to a 3-D garment. Our days are also filled with fabric meetings, concept/ trend recaps and sketch passes (when we pass technical sketches to tech designers, who then send the pattern to our vendors),” she explained. Farley credits most of these daily tasks as manageable due to her fashion education at AAU. “Efficiency and attention to detail are skills I used throughout my time at the Academy and have carried me through the start of my career and will continue to do so!”
Malcolm Thomas is a Fashion Journalism student at Academy of Art University.
page 18 | March 2014 volume 2 | academy of art university | san francisco
STYLE WEST COAST FASHION LAW SYMPOSIUM
Protecting your brand
Keanan Duffty discussed the laws surrounding fashion branding and design at the recent West Coast Fashion Law Symposium By Ashley Castanos On February 28, UC Hastings College of the Law held the first West Coast Fashion Law Symposium. Keanan Duffty, Senior Director of Fashion Merchandising at Academy of Art University, led the discussion with a warm welcome to a room full of law students, fashion lawyers and fashion industry professionals. Duffty used quirky humor, fashion parody and personal experiences to shed light on fashion design protection. He emphasized the importance of protecting your own brand and offered advice to young designers.
“Hire the best people,” he said, “Find the absolute best legal team that you can.” He explained how licensing strategy for brand and image as well as intellectual property and design patents are uncertain and often intangible when it comes to the design industry. He referenced his own experience starting out in the business, when he received a cease and desist letter for his clothing brand, Slinky Vagabond. A name he chose from a rock song by David Bowie from the album, “Young Americans,” Duffty figured it was something “no one else in the world would have chosen.” As it turned out, a preexisting
Designs by Keanan Duffty for his Spring 2006 Menswear Collection.
shoe company already held the trademark for the name Vagabond, and in the end, Duffty chose to change the name of his brand. “Part of the name had already been taken. Know when to cut your loses, and know when to fight back,” Duffty said about his choice to change his brand name. He used another design dispute example to elaborate on the definition of intellectual property rights. He created t-shirts with a tongue-andcheek logo of Mickey Mouse (holding an Uzi in one hand and a grenade in the other) that were being sold at luxe boutiques, including Fred Segal. When Disney came after him for using their iconic mouse, and for tarnishing their logo from Disney to “destroy,” he defended the designs by calling them “customizing.” He quickly realized that fighting with a large corporation like Disney would only be an uphill battle. He politely rejected their claims and luckily, they backed off. Years later, Duffty experienced another roadblock with a product being sold at Target. He received a cease and desist letter from a company who claimed they owned the rights to the British flag design he was using on pairs of jeans. He assessed the situation and decided to fight back.
Keanan Duffty leading a discussion about protecting your brand at the West Coast Fashion Law Symposium. Courtesy of the School of Fashion.
Duffty was able to defend his designs with proof of artwork, sketches and mentions in the press. He ultimately won the dispute and his jeans continued to be sold in Target stores. To conclude his talk, he reiterated the importance of knowing your battle by being knowledgeable about your options and the weight of the brand up against you. Susan Scafindi, Founder and Academic Director of the Fashion Law Institute at UC Hastings, touched on the definition of fashion law and spoke on her experience in forming the relatively new branch of law. She defined labor and employment law as pertaining to interns, retail employees, models rights and diversity. Because of fashion law, new regulations have been made to protect underage models, unpaid interns and underpaid garment workers. Barbara Kolson, the Executive Vice President and
General Counsel of Stuart Weitzman Holdings, LLC, provided insight from her work as an in-house lawyer. She started the first in-house legal department for Stuart Weitzman and worked for 7 For All Mankind, Kate Spade and Calvin Klein. She has had similar experiences as Duffty, in regards to intellectual property rights and legal battles. She touched on the difficult process of achieving design patents and how they are almost impossible to obtain. In addition to being costly and time consuming, originality is often hard to prove when it comes to garments. Her advice to students: “Protect your business and your work, pick your outside counsel carefully.”
Ashley Castanos is an M.F.A. Fashion Journalism student at Academy of Art University.