You Can Stuff Your Sorries In Sack Topshop!

Well, it's not surprising that a trendy and cheap, monster corporate chain store copied a design to sell in their own doors and make loads of money, but what is surprising is that they thought the hyper aware and socially tuned in, Wendy Brandes wouldn't notice!  I mean, Wendy is an incredibly gifted jewelry designer with a unique artistic vision, but she is also a former journalist who reads the New York Times, WWD and the Wall Street Journal every day before I've even had my morning java.  Not to mention, she peruses CNN's web site, various blogs and even Dlisted to keep up with her pop culture.  So, suffice it to say that nothing gets past this chick.  In other words, she's too smart for you Topshop beyotches.  And that's why she did the "punctuation rings" FIRST!  But, she called them "swear-rings" which is way more clever.

"YOU CAN STUFF YOUR SORRIES IN A SACK, TOPSHOP!"

*Unfortunately, this video does not allow embedding, therefore I had to just give you a screen shot.  The link (below) will redirect you to YouTube to view the hilarious bit if you want to hear George tell Jerry to "stuff his sorries in a sack!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fscN4yfuJs

Wendy introduced these fun, conversational rings back in 2008, (here, let her tell you herself) so while it has taken Topshop four whole years to knock her off (hardly keeping up with the trends Topshop!), you can be sure that they still made money for ripping off somebody's idea and cheapening it for the masses.  And if they're selling to the masses, they are likely to be raking in masses of money.

  Topshop's "apology" via Twitter

Due to the commotion on twitter and the solidarity of bloggers bitching, the popular store agreed to remove the product from their web site.  But, if you ask me, I think that Topshop should split the profits of what they sold  prior to the removal of the product with Wendy, the original creator.  That's fair, no?  Or, they could have just placed an order (and maybe they still can) with Wendy to begin with and then everybody would have been happy.  But corporate greed just couldn't be helped and they cut out the middle man and went straight to their Chinese factory (well, I'm assuming it's China) with a picture of Wendy's rings and instructions to copy them in brass -- which they called "gold look" to make them sound expensive!

 

Darn!  None of these videos are permitting embedding today.  Here's a funny "stuff your sorries in a sack" clip from BP CEO, Tony Hayward as interpreted by South Park.  Click the link below to view on YouTube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDqatJPvOfk

Okay, so Topshop apologized.  Big Deal.  It doesn't hurt them to simply say, "Oooops, our bad.  Sorry."  Their pathetic tweet doesn't even technically admit that they were wrong and that they copied Wendy's design.  They sound like a politician... "the misinterpretation and similarity..."  Are they kidding?  In a way, that's kind of like saying that they had the intent to copy, but didn't do it well.  Idiots.  You'd think they'd be getting good at making up excuses and coming up with lies by now -- this is the second time in just over a month the store has had to pull merchandise.  In March, they got in trouble for copying British designer, Yasmin Kianfar's dress design.  After getting tons of flack on Twitter and pressure from Blogger Susie Bubble, Topshop offered this response -- wait for it -- it's sooo sincere and well meaning --

"The style in question has been removed from sale with immediate effect. We apologise for any misinterpretation of the design and its similarity to Yasmin Kianfar's work."

Sound familiar?  Yah, I thought so.  I mean, they didn't even change ONE word.  Apparently, the "powers that be" at Topshop have this safe, non-incriminating response ready to fire off ASAP.  I guess they need it when all of their products are copied.  I say, boycott those MOFO's!