Knock It Off : The Dark Side of Fashion

So here we are. 2026. New beginnings and all that jazz - and the start of our NEW blog!

As we are very close to celebrating 10 years of being in the fashion industry (yes, t-shirts ARE fashionable!) we've experienced a lot. It's those experiences, both good and bad, that we are going to tap into. Some funny, some serious - and we hope you enjoy them :)

As you can probably tell by the title, I am starting off with a topic that is VERY close to my heart - knock offs (which from this point onwards will be referred to as KO's). KO's are everywhere and definately NOT exclusive to the world of fashion. Basically, if someone makes it chances are that some else will create a KO version. Sad but true.

Over the years I've seen KO's in many shapes and sizes (ok, pun intended, we are talking about clothing here!) and it's a seamless (!) endless production line of crap. Poorly made, cheap materials, often imported and ultimately CHEAP. And therein lies the problem - price. Price is THE key driver for a consumer in most cases. We all love a bargain, even me! BUT! There's the old addage of "if it's too good to be true"....

There is, however, a bigger problem. Darker, more sinister. Lurking in the shadows ready to strike at any given moment. A silent assassin quieter than Michael Myers, more deadly than John Wick and with less remorse than Thanos clicking his fingers. Something that sticks in my throat so much it's like swallowing a family of hedgehogs (not recommended!) :P

Welcome to the new wave of KO's. Ladies and Gentleman I present to you the new go-to tool for the would be fakes manufacturer. I present to you.....AI.

Now I'm not going to get into the great AI debate, that's far too big to get into right now. But the advent of it's technology is frightening in the fashion industry. EVERY SINGLE DAY I see adverts on social media for the next "Karen's Krappy Klothing" company (apologies to anyone called Karen) offering the latest trending designs (mostly from movies & TV shows) at cut rate prices. It's consuming the industry like a plague of locusts. It's hard enough when you are competing against the usual KO's. Designs stolen from, well, everywhere. Total disregard for intellectual property (IP), and in some cases direct rip offs of artwork or ideas. When you are spending literally tens of thousands of pounds a year on fully licensed merchandise there is nothing more soul destroying every single time you see these KO's being sold.

AI has introduced a whole new wave of KO's. Typing a few key words into an app and voila! Hey presto! Quicker than an F1 driver heading down the final straight you have images produced for you. No creativity. No time invested. No love for the product. No licensing. It's a cash grab and it's taking sales and profit from those of us who do it right.

On a personal level I think we have shown over the years that officially licensed doesn't have to be expensive. When you have passion for something the way I do it's about YOU, the customer, reading this, and always has been. That will NEVER change. However we now face a new challenge with the advent of AI. I can only hope that it becomes more regulated in how it is used.

Unfortunately for now - just like Darth Vader - if you ask people to join the dark side there will always be those who will turn to it. There will however always be a Luke for every Vader, a Neo for every Agent Smith. A good guy willing to take on the bad guys. I'm not saying I am THE ONE but you won't find me cowering in a corner either crying for my mum like a 3 year old who has just scraped his knee falling over!

Thanks for reading - and in case you are wondering - I wrote all of this myself. No automated programmes used. Good old fashioned finger typing and a head full of thoughts. It took me longer to write but when something needs to be done the right way it's worth it.

See you on the flip side!