A pair of trousers from the new Dereon autumn collection, which is owned by the singer Beyonce, look a great deal like trousers from Iceland’s E-label – a pair of which the musician bought for herself last autumn.
“This is naturally huge and I am still half in shock. I didn’t twig straight away that this was her own label: I just thought she was wearing our leggings. It is practically just copy/paste,” says Heba Hallgrimsdottir, one of the owners of E-label.
In the promotional material for the Dereon Autumn Collection, which Beyonce owns with her mother, the singer is seen photographed in leggings which look extremely similar to leggings from E-label.
The trousers in question were designed by Asgrimur Mar Fridriksson and are black, studded with metal spikes on the front. Frettabladid reported last November that Beyonce had bought exactly that pair of leggings from the E-label brand at a branch of Topshop in London, and reports this weekend that it is a very strange coincidence.
Asked whether E-label will attempt to sue, Heba said she could not answer that question as things stand right now. “I have only just heard about this and no decision has yet been taken. We need to inspect her brand’s trousers closer because, according to law, it is not copied if a certain number of things have been changed from the original design,” heba said. She added that Beyonce’s E-label leggings were bought from the Edit section of Topshop, which sell designs from little-known labels.
When asked, Heba said that E-label has not copyrighted its design, but believes that widespread media coverage of Beyonce’s purchase last November, both in Iceland and overseas, would be evidence enough to prove plagiarism – if E-label eventually decides that the new design was indeed copied from their own. “But if people want to buy the original leggings, they can pop in to us on Laugavegur 27,” she added with a laugh.
Photo: Visir.is
Not sure it’s truth. I googled e-Label and came across http://shopelabel.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3&Itemid=29
So it seems that this brand is allover Europe: Eire,France,Germany,Spain,Sweden,Holland,Denmark,Italy,Austria,Belgium,Finland,Greece,Norway,Switzerland,Greenland, Faroe Islands.
Well Sonya… You are totally right! The brand is all over Europe. If you read to the bottom of the web page you found when you googled, you´ll see this information:
“www.shopelabel.com is operated and owned by
Eskimo Branding
Laugavegi 33
101 Reykjavik
Iceland”
It´s in the sellers best interest if his or hers product/brand is all over Europe or the world, but it doesn´t change the fact who the owner of the product/brand is.
The point of the story is, that is seems that a company, owned by Beyonce and her mother, is advertising a product as their own design, when in fact it is someone elses… but as said before: that´s the point of the story.
My point is: the icelandic designers have a good case.
Leave me alone. I am on my break with my husband jay.
As an American, may I say I am ashamed of her. Here we have known Beyonce is over and has been for a few years. For her to make such a desperate move is really embarassing. This is horrible.