ASOS has been accused of ‘ripping off independent designers’ by an Australian lingerie brand.
Hopeless Lingerie shared a photo of an item for sale on ASOS next to a photo from their own range on Tuesday 30 August and asked Twitter users to “spot the difference”.
“Shame on you @ASOS once again ripping off independent designers,” the tweet continued.
An ASOS spokesperson told The Huffington Post UK the claims are a legal matter, which the company takes very seriously and shared the following statement:
“ASOS take all design infringements very seriously, this matter has been passed on to our legal team for review,”
But Hopeless Lingerie was not impressed by the response:
The brand founded in 2008 by owner and designer Gabrielle Adamidis went into more detail about their complaint on Instagram.
“It’s not the first time this has happened and I’m sure not the last,” the caption read.
“We are a very small, independent brand. Here at Hopeless we make every single item one by one, for each customer as they place their order, and put a huge amount of love and care behind every single design.
“It’s pretty heartbreaking to see things like this happen, and more so knowing that we are absolutely not alone, this behaviour is rife in the fashion industry.”
Hopeless Lingerie then made reference to the case of Tuesday Bassen who along with Adam J. Kurtz accused Zara of ‘copying’ 20 independent artists designs.
“Let these big companies know you don’t agree with how they operate by shopping independent and being vocal when things like this happen,” urged Hopeless Lingerie on Instagram.
“It’s not okay.”