An Australian small business owner has alleged her work has copied by another store.
Emily Davies is the woman behind Venem 1.0, an online fashion retailer, and took to social media to air claims Valleygirl had mimicked one of her “exclusive” designs that included her brand name in the print on the dress, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The Venem 1.0 dress typically retails fro $149 but is currently on sale for a third of the price.
“This is my dress – I designed this. I designed the print. It took us 12 months to develop because it was the first print we’d ever done,” Ms Davies said.
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She then compared it to a recent release from Valleygirl, showing a similar print as well as a chain connecting the bust.
“It’s now stocked in all of their stores around Australia and it’s heartbreaking,” she said.
“And the worst thing is there is nothing I can do about it because I haven’t trademarked or copyrighted the design or the print.”
She also said the dress in Valleygirl even included her brand “Venem” in the print.
“Like my brand name is in your stores, you could have at least taken out my brand name.”
She said she understood that everyone gets inspiration from somewhere, adding she gets inspiration from other brands, runways and Pinterest.
But she said “inspo” was the key word.
“We’re also a small business and we don’t have the money to do anything in terms of going to court – and it sucks,” she said.
Ms Davies said she understood both labels were fast fashion. But she said it was taken to a new level with the use of her brand name Venem 1.0 in the mix.
She also acknowledged that it was the “nature of the game”, and said that her manufacturers hadn’t remade her print.
The Valleygirl online store has been “temporarily closed until further notice”.
Initially she had alleged the “dupe” had come from Ally Fashion but retracted those claims after doing further research.
“I want to make a sincere apology to Ally Fashion. I was misinformed by multiple followers that it was at Ally Fashion and it wasn’t – it’s at Valleygirl,” she said.
“This is my fault, I should have done my research, but in the heat of the moment I was so upset and I learned from it.”
News.com.au has contacted Valleygirl for comment.