The work of the artist from Porto Lara Luis is incorrectly reproduced and sold on various sites. Chinese fast fashion brand Shein sold it for almost half the price.
34-year-old Portuguese illustrator Lara Luis saw one of her works being abused by the Chinese company Shein. The e-commerce giant has been selling the artist’s illustration printed on a T-shirt since at least April for six euros.
Following the condemnation of the Porto Instagram case (followed by a legion of more than 22,000 followers), the massive distribution of the publication, and even the intervention of some young women with advertising links to the platform, the product was withdrawn in A for now, but Shein has not yet made any excuses. “They haven’t answered me yet. Neither I, nor the “influencers” who tried to talk to them. But they have already removed the product from the store. They take over what they don’t own and don’t even mention it, ”he told JN to a graphic design and advertising graduate artist with a master’s degree in illustration and comics.
Lara Luis, warned on Thursday by a follower of misuse of illustrations at Shein, found, however, that the same design, printed on T-shirts, was being sold on other major digital commerce sites. He assures that this is not entirely a surprise, citing examples of other cases of “theft” of Portuguese illustrators’ work. Therefore, he hopes that the disclosure of this case will serve to raise public awareness of how often “fast fashion” brands behave (the type of production and consumption in which products are produced, consumed and quickly thrown away).
The illustration in question, created by Lara Luis in 2016, is inspired by the feline universe, in particular her cat, and shows a lying black cat accompanied by the phrase “you work, I see and judge” written in English. Anyone looking to purchase a design or t-shirt from a legitimate creator can do so through the website. laraluis.comwhere the clothes are now sold at a price of 10 euros.
