Robert, Flickr and the $235 Paul Smith sweatshirt

November 7th, 2008

In the networked world, the only thing worse than being sampled is not being sampled.

said Siva Vaidhyanathan.

Which brings us nicely to the story of Robert, Flickr and a Paul Smith sweatshirt costing $235.

Robs design compared with the $235 Paul Smith design

The story goes like this – Rob goes to NY, meets some mates they take him to a Paul Smith shop he buys a sweatshirt as the design looks uncannily like his own design. He takes a pic with his iPhone, gets a bit bugged as how alike his design is to the Paul Smith one, and then discovers it is a direct copy of a part of his design.

Later that evening, Lance, Tara and I went out to dinner at Cookshop. I wore the new Paul Smith shirt. How could I not! At one point during the meal, I went to the mens room. As I stood at the sink, I looked up at the mirror and saw my collaboration with Paul Smith. I couldn’t stop laughing.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit I am not completely innocent in all this. The birds I used in my coding study were culled from other people’s Flickr photos. I didn’t ask permission. I searched Flickr for images of flocking birds and traced a total of seven small silhouettes which I used in the original flocking study. However, I did not then go on to print my versions on clothing and sell them for hundreds of dollars each.
So what now? I have no idea. I am not angry. I am not feeling vindictive. I am flattered and amused. This isn’t like that Urban Outfitters/Johnny Cupcakes incident. I don’t actually feel wronged. I do feel that some designer for the Paul Smith brand committed an embarrassing act of laziness. This should not be excused and I imagine they will be dealt with accordingly. I don’t get a ton of blog traffic but I would be surprised if this didn’t eventually get back to the Paul Smith organization. And Mr. Smith, if you are reading this, Lance and I have always wanted to spend a week in London.

In the networked world, the only thing worse than being sampled is not being sampled.

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