A recent article in the style section of the New York Times reported that members of the Council for Fashion Designers of America are fed up with knock-off fashion, and some are even going to Washington to fight it.

According to the article, members of the Council, which includes Zac Posen, Diane Von Furstenburg and Narcisco Rodriguez, are pushing for copyright protection for fashion design similar to the protection given to other forms of artistic expression, like books and music.

The article reported:

“Copyright law protects a creator of original material -- like a songwriter or screenwriter -- for her life plus 70 years. But clothing is not protected. In 1998 Representative Howard Coble, a Republican from North Carolina, introduced a revision to the copyright law that classified boat hulls as a design protected for 10 years. Citing the boat hull statute, fashion designers are asking for similar protection for clothing designs for three years.”

They aren’t talking necessarily about the obvious fakes one can find in Chinatown either. Less-expensive fashion labels like Urban Outfitters, Banana Republic, H&M, ABS, just to name a few, have long been known to sell fashions that reflect the design of high-end labels a fraction of the price of the original designer.

The comparisons are clearly made in fashion magazine features like Allure’s “Fashion Cravings,” feature which places expensive, ultra-luxury “lust” products next to similarly designed, wallet-conscious “must” ones, and as pointed out in the Times article, Marie Claire’s “Splurge vs. Steal” column.

Gela Taylora a designer for often copied label, Juicy Couture, told the Times that, ''Fashion is a strange and ephemeral thing. But this proposal is for people who are not inspired by anything but looking for an easy way to make money.''

When I first stumbled across this article, I was a little conflicted about which side to support. While I sympathize with the argument that Taylora makes about not wanting someone else to profit off of her hard work, I think that a copyright for clothing design sounds strange and an unlikely bill to pass. Fashion runs in quickly moving trends, with many styles and attitudes appearing in more than one design label each season. I have also long believed that a good fashion sense is not reliant on the fatness of ones wallet, and that shoppers deserve options. If it comes down to a $1000 Zac Posen dress, and it’s look-alike counterpart be found at Macy’s for $250, I’ll be the first one to go for the cheaper one.

I also at first agreed with Lesley Jane Seymour, editor of Marie Claire when she was quoted in the article saying that pirated fashions are “like when you go to the Shop & Stop, you have the real Raisin Bran and then the generic raisin bran. Both have their buyers. Neither one has put the other out of business.''

I thought it was a good comparison, until I remembered the case of the Johnny Cupcakes graphic designs that were ripped off by Urban Outfitters.

While I’m skeptical of the argument that high-end fashion labels are loosing all that much money to the cheaper lines, I think it’s the just-under-the radar designers who are really hurt from pirated fashions, and they are the ones who should be getting pissed.