Target’s Mossimo Messenger knockoff Proenza Schouler PS1 bag?

The Proenza Schouler PS1 Large leather satchel

PROENZA SCHOULER brand’s beloved PS1 bag has an uncanny copy by Mossimo on the sales floor at Target—a knockoff that smarts for designers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough because they created a Go International collection for the store (which, because of the recent Go International anniversary reissue, is being sold now. But on Wednesday, the Proenza designers, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, became aware themselves when Mr. McCollough’s sister in California e-mailed a photo of the Mossimo bag at her local Target and another blog mentioned the similarities. The designers say they are disappointed with Target. Reported the New York Times 25/03/11.

This messenger bag, sold at Target under the Mossimo label. To be sure, the bags are not 100 percent identical. The Mossimo bag £22.38 ($34.99) is made of fake leather, while the PS1 £1,020 ($1,595 for the medium-size version) is of genuine leather. The placement of the straps is slightly different, and the PS1 utilises a distinctive fold-down closure in antiqued brass whereas the Target model has an ordinary turn-key closure. But other design parallels are hard to ignore. The PS1, which Proenza brought out two years ago after a fair amount of research and development, has a V-shaped front flap cross-sectioned with trim detail to suggest a square; so does the Mossimo. And the straps that run over the front of the PS1 are tucked into small flat loops free of hardware; ditto the Mossimo.

“Our whole aesthetical idea with this bag was to take the hardware off,” Mr. Hernandez said on Thursday as he and Mr. McCollough and Shirley Cook, the company’s chief executive, examined photos of the Target bag in their SoHo office. “And the attitude, the slouch of the bag — they got the weight really right,” Mr. Hernandez added with a rueful laugh.

The similarities are not lost on bloggers, though a certain logic is. “I can’t believe how much alike they are!” a commenter said on myaffordablebeauty.com. And here is this unquestioning post from Mattieologie: “I’ve expressed numerous times how much I love Proenza Schouler’s PS1 bag, but I am so far from affording it. But luckily there’s this magical place Target where they make dreams true. Exhibit A: the Mossimo Messenger bag per Target is a clever variation of the PS1 for the fraction of the price.”

The messenger bag, sold at Target under the Mossimo label

Mr. McCollough can understand that people love bargains and knockoffs, but variations, clever or not, rob companies, small companies like Proenza, of opportunities. Reading the post, he remarked, “Yeah, why save up and buy ours when you can buy theirs right away?”

Ms. Cook said that the PS1 “has been a huge part of the growth of our business, as well a significant branding element.” But what especially troubles the designers about what they see as a knockoff is that they have had a collaborative relationship with Target in the mass merchant’s Go International program. Several years ago the designers did a spring collection of about 65 pieces for Target, and recently they agreed to let the merchant reissue some of those looks for its Go anniversary promotion.

“So our product is in Target right now, and then this bag comes out,” Ms. Cook said. “It’s just disappointing, especially from someone we worked with.”
Copying is rampant at all levels of the fashion industry, and legal protection is limited and costly to pursue. But the closeness of the Mossimo bag’s styling, similar enough to invite comparisons to the PS1, is surprising in view of Target’s relationships with designers. For that reason, Mr. McCollough said, he wishes that Target would stop selling the Mossimo bag.

That seems unlikely. On Thursday, in response to my query, a Target spokesman, Joshua Thomas, issued a statement: “Target is committed to offering our guests everyday essentials alongside highly differentiated merchandise, all at a great value. It always has been and continues to be the policy of Target to respect the intellectual property rights of others.” Mr. Thomas said the company had no further comment.

Content Friend: CATHY HORYN

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