by
Black Girl With Long Hair
If you’re a black woman who is active on social media you’ve likely come across Rachel Stewart’s designs. The talented 42-year-old, North Carolina based designer churns out unique and incredibly cool black-centric pieces under her eponymous label Rachel Stewart Jewelry.
Countless women have purchased her jewelry, including actress Kim Coles, singer Nelly Furtado and Beyonce’s all female band, the Suga Mamas. But this is likely all coming to an end this year.
The designer put up a Facebook post (which has since been taken down) with an image of her design on a Chinese e-commerce site and a caption explaining how the plagiarism was negatively impacting her bottom line and leading her to shut down. The post went viral and Rachel followed up with an interview with Yesha Callahan of the Root to give further detail;
The Root: Can you go into a few details about how you find your items on Alibaba and AlieExpress?
Rachel Stewart: I was alerted to it by someone else, I know that sites like these are a hotbed for knock offs of everything you can imagine. They not only copied the exact design, but stole the product shots I personally took of the pieces and even the models.
The Root: Have you contacted these companies?
Rachel Stewart: Yes, the first time I contact one particular seller she said that someone sent her a picture of my earrings and asked her to make them, of course they don’t care who it belongs too so she made it, sold it to the the American boutique and also kept it in her own shop overseas. She also apologized and pretended that she was so sorry for everything. She said if I didn’t take legal action she would remove them from her shop right away and make them for me exclusively. I thought that was funny. I produce my own product – just take down my work. She took them down and one week later changed the name of her shop and put them right back up. It’s not just these companies; independant boutiques also steal my pictures and work it’s rampant.
TR: What other actions do you think can be taken?
RS: There are many things you can do, but what I’m most concerned about is prevention. I can copyright, watermark, send cease and desist letters all day long, it doesn’t stop it. For every shop you successfully take down there are 5 more still operating. It’s an almost impossible task. Imagine Michael Jordan or Louis Vuitton trying to stop reproductions, they can’t, there’s a demand and millions to be made.
Rachel went on to explain that the stress of dealing with constant plagiarism is just too much, and she will likely walk away from her business;
The first 5 years were great, I made enough profit to remain a stay at home mom, but as my popularity increased so did the the copy cats. It went from once or twice a year to every week I’m getting emails about some Instagram boutique or event vendor selling my jewelry. I’m a seller but also a consumer so I understand the desire to get a deal on an item you see online, I do it too, so when someone sees my work for less than half than my price who do you think is gonna get paid? Whether the buyer knows it’s a knock-off or not the fact is I make no money.
TR: Do you think you’ll have to eventually close your online store?
RS: I think I will. At the end of the day I need to make money to support my family and if that’s not happening I won’t let my pride stop me from doing what I need to do. I’m still an an artist, still a creative, still a maker that won’t change.
This is a disappointment and a shame. Ladies, do you have any advice for how Rachel can keep her shop going?
44 Responses
She needs to get a patent lawyer, and send a cease and desist letter to every company or person who is stealing her designs. If they don’t stop stealing her designs, she needs to start a lawsuit, suing all companies for each and every dime they stole from her.
She and other Black brands need a version of the Proud Lady symbol like AHBAI has for hair products… https://www.trademarkia.com/ahbai-member-the-proud-lady-73733600.html
Don’t let anybody shut you down! Revamp
Girl continue to sell your pieces on Amazon as a side gig until business. Your jewelry is too beautiful to stop selling it now. And lawyer up, I’m you have rights that are being violated.
Are they using HER NAME/ BRAND to sell these products? If so she needs to sue a large company selling her branded items and be set! Her “designs” though can be found in ANY afrocentric shop worldwide. Nothing of copyright, at least not by her. Step her marketing up, decrease cost, increase production, and get into larger retail outlets. There is still time! All the best.
This is a crying shame. I’ve been through something similar, except that I didn’t make it to this level of success with such distinctive pieces. But I, too, I tried to sell high quality, one-of-a-kind handmade designs on Etsy. I couldn’t compete with the super cheap stuff from China, that clearly was NOT handmade (which is a requirement on Etsy, but the cheap manufactured stuff from China is there, anyway). Yet, when I go out wearing my designs, people rave about them.
I understand the solution, and I’m doing something about it, before going back into the Lion’s Den with costly jewelry inventory. One has to learn how to market successfully online. That means driving tens of thousands of shoppers to your site. When the traffic is there, so are the sales….plain and simple. You only need a few percent of the numbers, to make a good living. While you drive the traffic, you make Google Adsense money, and you can sell other products, too, with commission (Affiliate Marketing).
I’m in the early stages, seeing that it’s possible. I’m starting to make Adsense revenue with a site that re-publishes (but does not plagiarize…gives credit to the source) viral content of interest to a relevant target market.
OK, I had to invest a few thousand dollars, to enlist the help of an expert. And it took a lot of research to find a true expert..not a con artist. But it’s worth it.
Bottom line: the Internet is a fabulous opportunity to reach customers all over the world. It’s also crazy-competitive. Yet…when you’ve got the numbers, price point is no longer an impediment to success.
Success is the best revenge. I wish the best to this talented woman. When I get there, myself, I plan to help others with this kind of talent, to make it, too.
All the best to you! Never give up!! Are you up and running again? What’s the name of your shop? 🙂
I came across Rachel when first researching natural African textured hair about 12 yrs ago. I really liked what she was doing. The Chinese are well known for this behaviour. I remember a TV programme I watched about the textile industry in Ghana. Unfortunately from what was stated there is only 1 textile company operating producing authentic African printed fabric where as before there were many. Since the country is receiving constant shipments of clothing from the West in the guise of charity this has meant a decline in traditional clothing. The owner of the factory had discovered that the Chinese were copying the exact fabric and going to the length of imitating the authentic label used to identify the Ghanaian cloth. I was told that the Indians are doing the exact same thing with our hair products by someone who was approached by a well known Indian company in England offering her lots of money to stock her handmade products in their shops. She had the potential of becoming a millionaires overnight but because she has a conscience she declined the offer. Things like this make my blood boil and I don’t understand why as a people we can’t be more supportive of one another. We need to start tapping into the skills and talent of our own and leave these imitators alone. We have the power to do it.
I have seen some of these designs sold at festivals. Makes me wonder.
Rachel,
Do not shut down! Find a larger company that is willing to buy your product line. That way you will have the cash for your family to put away for a long time. Get them to hire you and have you stay on as creative director of this particular line. Larger companies have the legal department and the resources to go after the counterfeiters. you may also want to try to get your product line and some of the bigger stores, like Kmar, Target, Macy’s etc. This way you will have more profit and not worry about the smaller counterfeiters. Final, get expert advise and call Damon John from the Shark Tank. I am sure he has plenty of experience in this area. Once again, do not shut down!
K. Massey-Brooklyn, NY
Plagiarism? An American is really complaining? AHAHAHA wow this was a great laugh for me and my family. There’s nothing unique or black-centric surrounding imitated hand craft jewelry that sells very cheap at a craft market in the Caribbean (and I’m more than sure, you can catch these in any African country) . This woman is tripping over losing to her own game. She’s plagiarizing African culture in order to brand natural hair in America…and that an accepted thing to do in America. Lol oh well
uhhh. what? lmao What are you even talking about? Her jewelry is actually laser-cut with different materials — wood, plastics — not sure how that’s “plagiarizing African culture.” I’ve shopped in various countries in Africa, and through the Caribbean, at front-street stores and market stalls, and I can’t say I’ve seen pieces like hers. So… huh?
What a shame. What can she do about it though?
The terminology is counterfeit not plagiarism. I think that the only thing Rachel can do is to hire a publicist to get the story out, so that it’s well known her product is being counterfeited and then, direct market her items to consumers who want high quality goods versus competing for the mass market. Determine to get the product into high end establishments, artsy boutiques, etc; you can’t stop the Chinese market from producing knockoffs of products, but one thing for sure, you can produce better quality.
The Chinese advantage is simple. Global reach. My first time seeing or hearing of Rachel Stewart Jeweley was in this article. But I shop Alibaba/Aliexpress(will reconsider now)In lieu of the designer closing shop, I have to play devil’s advocate and suggest “if you can’t beat em’ join em’.” Consider having the Chinese manufacturer make them if she can produce them at a lower cost than you can w/o compromising quality.Then, most importantly, shop your designs around to big box stores. Target, Macy’s, etc. Negotiate adding your items as online only if you don’t have enough production to stock store shelves and go from there. You can do it. Your art is beautiful. Don’t quit. Good Luck.
As a jewelry designer myself, I take this personally.
I’ve had the same experience. It is frustrating and disheartening to see designs that were whispered into YOUR spirit bastardized like this. Part of the problem lies with us as Black consumers. We see products like LV, Chanel, etc as ‘designer’, but products like Rachel Stewart’s and mine are called ‘handmade’. To me, the product that has creativity and passion poured into it is the TRUE designer piece, NOT the ‘same ‘ol, same ‘ol, let’s make the same thing, but take the zipper from this side and put it on that side and mark the price up and they will still buy it’ stuff that we stand in line to buy from people that don’t even LIKE us!( and do NOT get me started on the hair and clothing industry!), but it boils down to everyone making money off of us, BUT us, and US holding on to a non-supportive mentality.
The Asians are about the $$$. They are gonna copy anything that we WE start. They see the value more than WE do. They could become a non-factor if we would open our eyes to that and stop giving them our money. They don’t do that with any other culture BUT us, because they know we have the unique and original ideas, and they take them and pay sweatshop workers pennies to make OUR stuff, and sell us this stuff with all of the spirit and passion removed.
When someone buys a piece of jewelry from me, they receive so much more than something pretty to wear, they are also receiving the love, passion and energy that I have put into designing that piece, the same feelings are in Rachel’s work…and that transfers to the person that wear it.
I think it would be awesome if Black designers started working together. Plus, I KNOW that there are Black IT folks that can build a Black version of Etsy to help us with internet sales, I KNOW that there are Black folks in marketing that can help us put together some innovative marketing strategies, I KNOW that there are folks out there that could be trained to manufacture our designs as demand for our product and sales increase.
I want to tell Rachel to hang in there. God is not gonna stop pouring those awesome designs into her…and she needs to keep it going. I believe in her and her AWESOME skills.
WE can help her and others like her by promoting and supporting whenever possible. From giving a street vendor a word of encouragement, to clicking ‘like’ and ‘share’ when you see something posted online. Take the time to learn the story and the vision of the designer…there can be so much beauty in that.
The world LOVES our style. we just have to make it so that when they want our stuff, they get it FROM us, and that has to start WITH us.
Yes!!!! What’s the name of your shop? I’d like to take a look 🙂
Plagiarism, in China, is a cultural acceptance, and is not meant to offend; but as a compliment of your product, worthy of being copied. This is why it is important to have some knowledge of the culture in which you set up your business.
Her business is not in China, it’s in the US. And I honestly don’t care if plagiarism is ‘cultural acceptance’ and ‘not meant to offend’. It’s not an ethical practice and it put this woman out of business. Just because it’s ‘cultural’ doesn’t mean that it’s right. Misogyny and racism are also deeply ‘cultural’ beliefs all around the world. Doesn’t make them right.
*lays down sword at your feet* Tell them.
if it were truly a compliment of the product, you would give credit (and money) where credit is due. taking someone else’s idea and calling it and packaging it as your own is theft and you know that.
Although it will effect your bottom line, it’s not meant to offend. Absurdity.
I think she can add something special to her pieces, like a signature or a mark that can be iconic and associated with her stuff so that people know the difference between real and fake.
Can you imagine any mark that couldn’t also be replicated? Not to mention, the responsibility is on the consumer. If they don’t care enough to pay Rachel Stewart for what she’s produced, the conversation/contemplation is kind of useless. Everybody loves value, few value how it was produced/got to them. Heck, otherwise we wouldn’t eat meat/polultry from factory farms, wear shoes and clothing produced in developing countries’ sweatshops, sometimes by children, turn the electricity on without voting politicians into office that regulate the source of that energy…. the list is endless. Dollar is almighty, everything else is secondary.
I definitely agree. It would just take quite a bit of creativity and thought. From what I’ve read about luxury accessory labels, they often distinguish themselves by things like stitching, texture, and placement of logos in obscure places. If she’s willing to push for a little bit more, I would say try distinguishing the products, find some people to sue while doing it, and if things still turn sour THEN walk away. (But also continue to raise awareness to consumers about things like this, so they can ask vendors questions and stop giving them business if they suspect something.) Things like the Adinkra symbols, black power symbols and Egyptian imagery are hard to complain about in terms of copyright, unless some creativity has been added to them, but with everything else I’m pretty sure she has a right to protect her brand.
She should contact Aliexpress and Alibaba with the names of the company, they would shut down the shops.
Buy ONLY from the manufacturer! COUNTERFEITERS can NOT be stopped!
Like Rachel said, you can take any legal action you want, watermark, copyright – whatever! This is a crisis that even multi-billion dollar corporations can not cure. Don’t trust authorized sellers on Amazon/eBay/AliBaba, those certificates can be forged. Even official web sites can be duplicated and come up first in a Google search! Many of these counterfeits are made from dangerous, toxic, flimsy materials. Apple, Kate Spade, LVMH, everyone is having the same nightmare erode their bottom line and reputation.
black people like to buy cheap anyways…..!!! it doesn’t matter where it cme from…!!! it’s a damn shame though…!!
That’s the kind of attitude that’s hurting us. (1) everyone wants to save money. Black people are huge consumers in America and Europe, spending billions on a vast array of products. (2) To blame Black consumers for what’s really an issue of copyright infringement, illustrates a strong hint of self-hatred and a lack of business acumen. You’re wrongfully assuming that everyone that buys knock-off’s knows that is what they are doing. And it’s safe to assume they don’t. They buy what’s in front of them. No ethnicity does this more or less than another. (3) Rachel’s real problem is brand awareness. Coverage in Essence, local periodicals in big markets, like Atlanta, Chicago, NY, Miami and LA would be her best bet. Getting celebrities to wear her pieces in magazine layouts. Or simply on album covers, etc. (4) I know entrepreneurs, that also came up with Black themed products in the 80s and 90s that did really well, but were also threatened by Asian manufacturers. Taking brand awareness a step further, she need to make it cool to own the “official” product. It has to come with something that can’t be duplicated in a photo. A seal or stamp or like that is affixed to each product. This means that counterfeiters have to work harder to feign authenticity. It also means they have to knowingly break copyright laws in multiple countries. In this way, Rachel can identify companies and have their products seized by customs and local law enforcement, once she gets an idea of where product is being shipped in bulk. (5) She also needs to stay away from people like you. Negative, self-hating uncle toms.
Completely agree with points 1-4. I didn’t even see Ms. Stewart’s products until I saw this article…or at least I didn’t know whose designs I was looking at if I saw them. Brand is extremely important; as is market reach and saturation. I too disagree with Raw Thoughts generalization about Black Folks being cheap: I generally seek out products and services from Black businesses before I go anywhere else, and I pay the asking price if I don’t find it outrageous. However, there will always be those who, due to budget issues, consumer unawareness or consumer indifference, will purchase what amounts to knockoffs. Folks still want to look good and buy nice things regardless of the budget they have. But, while I don’t agree with Raw Thoughts’ generalizations about Black people’s purchasing habits, I also can’t go with #5. We can correct each other, or discuss differences of opinions without unwarranted generalizations, ugly accusations and especially shaming and name calling. That is also the kind of attitude that hurts and slowly destroys us. Much Love to both of you!!
Omg you hit the nail right on the head
True statement – I see us carrying all kinds of “knockoffs” all day long- Chanel Louis Vuitton Michael Kors. You name it. It can all be bought from Asian hair store or flea market
Perhaps she can set-up her website to allow customers, followers, and internet marketers to become affiliates, and earn commissions from anyone that visits her site (via the affiliate’s link) and makes a purchase. The affiliates are basically independent salespeople who would passively generate traffic to her site, providing her with prospects and customers she would not otherwise have. While she would not get the full price she charges, due to paying out the commission, she would still have made a sale, gained a potential repeat customer, and a much broader market reach than she would have had before. And this would be without having to pay upfront salesperson fees! The affiliate, of course, would benefit from earning commissions, and thus work toward getting as many potential visitors as possible to the website.
Ms. Stewart would not have to create an affiliate program from scratch; there are services that do all the heavy lifting like Commission Junction or ShareASale. Different services have different requirements, but the good ones manage everything from setting up an affiliate’s registration, to dispensing commission payments, to warehousing the marketing material that an affiliate can access for their campaigns. A great deal of people who work from home do so by becoming affilates for other peoples’ products and services. While this might not stop people who are intent on carrying on unscrupulous practices such as the knock-off Chinese store, It expands Ms. Stewarts market outreach, and possibly keep her running the business that helps feed her family, and a business that she loves!
Only buy from her shop. I went straight to the LV store to purchase my bag. I did not go to any site claiming to sell “authentic”goood
I wish I wish I WISH I knew how to help her, her designs are gorgeous! The onus would be for US as her CUSTOMERS to only shop via her designated venues. But, we have not gotten to the point of frequenting our own businesses on a regular basis…What are Louis Vitton and other popular manufacturers doing to stay in business? Or are they still in business? (I don’t shop name brands like that, so I have no idea…)
Looks like the terrorists won. What a shame.
This just pisses me off. Rachel’s work is already reasonable…who is buying it at half the price?! I bought the mini afro pick earrings years ago and they are my favourite. I hope Rachel finds a way to keep selling her work because it would be a shame to shut it down completely. Whatever she decides, I will continue to support her.
The prices are fucking fantastic like wtf I know that Alibaba and Aliexpress have knockoffs of MAC in case anyone is wondering
You need a copyrighted certificate of authenticity to accompany every piece of jewelry and post a picture of this certificate on your site and in email confirmations of orders. The unlawful reproduction of your certificate should be punishible by law in China and America. Talk to a lawyer on making it illegal to import such an item. I believe you need to get your money and not accept someone stealing from you. Let us know how we can help in this fight. I’m spreading the word.
We need to vote with our feet and our money and put the plagarists out of business.
I seriously blame whomever sent a pic of Rachel’s work to the knockoff company. Why not email the sister if you wanted a design? $25 is NOT astronomical. By the time you’ve added overseas shipping to a $4 knockoff pair, you’ve already paid $25. SMH…
Unfortunately, no one needed to send anything to the knock-off company. Knock-off-lady could have scraped it right off her website…even if she watermarked her pictures, sometimes people will buy something that just *looks* like the real thing.
Another case of stealing the creativity, energy and sheer life force of black women. So.much.damn.hate.
This is really sad. They say imitation is the best form of flattery but this is straight up stealing. I really hope she can get around this problem.