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boutique boutique academy boutique basics boutique business boutique business growth boutique ceos boutique growth tips growing your boutique opening a boutique Feb 26, 2021

7 POINTS OF DIFFERENTIATION. That’s what I learned in my Bachelor of Fine Arts program. You can’t copy someone’s design, especially if they are big time.

Imagine you are a big business and suddenly new boutiques opening up copy you. They steal your logo, put it on their own shirts and say it’s for sale. Wait- now they are making money on your logo, that you created and has value, because you are a big brand. It’s just not cool.

I’ve seen so many boutique owners start selling items that “look” like designer goods, some even with the logo or “upcycled” materials. I blanket stay away from the dupe or logo stealing game.

Frankly, I like to be more creative than that. Less obvious. Let me teach you. You need 7 points of differentiation to be called different enough from the base product.

Here is a sweatshirt I designed that looks like one Gucci just came out with (YES it says BOUTIQUE!)

Here are my changes: 1. I changed the fonts on both words 2. The key on mine is a horsebit on the original 3. The green/red bar doesn’t extend to the armpits on mine 4. The hoodie color is darker 5. The weight of the lines is thicker on mine 6. Original placement of print is much higher 7. Original scale of print is much bigger

I also used nothing that looked like the Gucci logo or said Gucci. In my head this is fine. It’s different enough that it’s “inspired by” the original. I’m not a lawyer (yet) so slide in my DM’s if you are and appalled by what I’m writing. It’s cool, promise.

Think about what you are buying and creating. Make sure if you want to be inspired, you do it with your own twist. Also, know that your original design probably will sell better than the inspired by!

Here's to making lots of friends, and making lots of money,