Corsetry and Competition
When I started making corsets, they were not a known and popular garment. They were still seen upon by regular women as cumbersome, uncomfortable and anti-feminist. This was quite a while ago, before the burlesque scene picked up again and women found stylish corsets and remembered that, yes, they do make you look a few dress sizes smaller and absolutely gorgeous!
Needless to say, I certainly wasn’t the first Designer/Maker on the corsetry scene. The other brands, who have been around for 5 years+ saw this niche well before it’s time and made the most of it, now creating some of the most glorious designs I’ve ever seen. These are obviously my competition, but there’s one very important point I would like to make.
Competition is both healthy and helpful. It’s a driving force that can push you to completely new limits and raise your bar up higher than you thought you’d ever be able to reach. It’s invigorating. I love my competition dearly, because without them, I’d be where I was five years ago, all of this, still a dream.
One thing I absolutely deplore is companies starting up and in effect stealing others designs. Now, touch wood, this hasn’t happened to me, but I have seen multiple images of the same designs under two different companies/brands. This is unfair on the original maker of that design. They invested time and effort into it only for someone else to reap the benefits. It’s utterly insane. Often the corset is made to a substandard quality and sold cheaply than the original because it has not been made to the same high standards with the same high quality materials. This sullies the original design and designers name. I think all designer/makers, whether it’s of corsets or handbags, clothing or swimwear should stand together against the theft and shoddy reproduction of their work.
Sadly, the best way to combat this is for our potential clients and customers to not go to them in the first place. Pay the extra tiny bit of money because you will benefit from the years of experience and high standards we Designer/Makers hold ourselves to.
So, if you want to buy a corset, research the company, brand or designer and ask them questions, if you feel what they are making is a reproduction then don’t bother buying from them, find the original designer and let them know whats going on.
