Dear FOREVER 21,
I am a U. S. author of 11 books, and I am here to tell you that it is wrong to "borrow" work from independent artists. You have taken art work from a young artist, "moosekleenex" a.k.a. Kelly Bastow, without permission and without payment. I was brought up to call such things stealing, and I just imagine you were too.
You do her and all independent artists a great disservice when you commit such acts (from what I see on the internet, this is not your first bout of pilferage) and thus encourage others to do likewise. I imagine that this sort of behavior will come back to harm your company if you continue such practices.
Artists of all sorts depend on income from their work, which is protected by a little entity called copyright. You have broken and danced upon fair use and copyright in this case, which makes me wonder if it is a favorite mode of your company. I hope not.
I wish you well--that is, I wish you honest, and I wish you fair. I look forward to your reply and your assurance that you will make amends to Ms. Bastow.
But is this your best possible, most productive business practice? I have a small suggestion.
You know, I'd be happy to buy my daughter--a fan of Ms. Bastow and likewise a young artist--such a tee if Kelly Bastow received a part of the proceeds. Wouldn't it be interesting if you actually paid people for their work and also linked to their Tumblr logs, Etsy shops, and so forth? I think that could only make the tee more desirable, interesting, and collectible because it would then have a human connection and a story that mattered.
Sincerely,
Marly Youmans
Here is yet another example of a business abusing the freedom of the internet to take from independent artists. If you would like to write a letter to Forever 21, you may write them at their customer service page here, as well as on social media. I hope that soon we may write to congratulate them on their good business practices. Unfortunately, you may find more than one complaint against them on the internet. Their designer knockoffs have been discussed at length. For a similar case, look at the design pilfered from
Jon Contino.
Only yesterday a British poet was in the news for plagiarizing an award-winning poem; he won another award for it! M. B. Whitaker had reams of poems lifted to fill another person's blog. Etcetera. We must not strip independent artists of their work, disheartening and abusing them. Unless an artist chooses to give up copyright for a work and place it in the public domain, such use is wrong.
If you would like to support and encourage illustrator Kelly Bastow, you may visit her
Tumblr log, her Etsy shop, her website, or her DeviantArt site.
