We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about why jeans have that mini-pocket at the front (and no, despite what you might have heard in your teenhood, it’s not actually designed for condoms).
We’ve shared the frankly genius reason some sweaters have a “V” shape under their collars too.
But scrolling on X recently, I came across a post which answered a question I didn’t even know I had – menswear expert and fashion writer Derek Guy shared a thread explaining why designer brands splash their logos all over their clothes and bags.
To be honest, I’d always thought it was so they could shill a £15 white T-shirt to some gullible, brand-loyal sucker for £150.
But apparently, it’s a little smarter – and more legally savvy – than I realised.
Clothes can’t always be copyrighted
A bit like recipes, which usually can’t be copyrighted due to something called the idea/expression dichotomy, items of clothing – which are considered “useful articles” – cannot always be legally copyrighted either.
“So if a company likes how Levi’s 501s fit, they can copy the cut,” Guy shared on X.
But in the UK, “A logo that includes artistic or design elements, (i.e. not just the name on its own), is legally regarded as being a work of artistic creation and therefore will be protected under copyright law.”
Additonally a 2017 US ruling following Varsity Brands, Inc vs Star Athletica LLC says that while the shape of the clothes themselves can’t be copyrighted, the logos and aesthetic add-ons to a garment don’t always count as “useful articles.”
Instead, they can count as creative choices.
The ruling put forward two stipulations to work out whether something like a logo is considered creative, and therefore copyright-able.
These are whether the addition is actually useful to the article of clothing (something like a V-neck, which does have a practical use, might struggle to qualify there, but a Louis Vuitton print has no clear function), and whether the addition is sufficiently creative enough to warrant a copyright.
This “limited protection” only extends to designs that would stand up “if [they] were imagined separately from the useful article into which it is incorporated,” the ruling reads.
“This is why you see logos all over the place – the Balenciaga and Gucci logos on the hats, as well as the North Face logo on the parka,” Guy stated.
While you can rip off a designer hoodie shape, you can’t legally recreate their branding. “It allows companies to use the US legal system to go after copycats.”
Is that the only reason?
Nope – Guy says that the decision is also part of a creative choice to include more of a streetwear-style look for higher-end brands.
And yes, he adds, there is something about cold, hard cash – “This basic principle – designing clothes in a way that allows luxury brands to create artificial scarcity, enforced by the US legal system – is partly how they’re able to extract the most from their customers,” he says.
“Even if the clothes are essentially unimaginative, cheap crap.”
