This is an interesting one. Ana Nichoola founder, cyclist and TV presenter Anna Glowinski is claiming that online giant Wiggle have ripped off her designs for their own brand ‘DhB’.
UPDATE: Since we published this story, Wiggle have responded to Anna’s claim and separately refuted her claims. You can see the various goings on below.
Big name companies ‘borrowing’ designs from artists isn’t anything new. The recent case of Jimbo Phillips settling the score with Jeremy Scott was a good reminder of how big names can play fast and lose with creative license. We’ve also seen Two&8 founder Adi Gilbert’s work ripped off and again. And again.
It seems like Anna Glowinski, founder of female clothing company Ana Nichoola, is the latest to – she claims – suffer. Anna claims that online giant Wiggle visited her at her HQ to discuss the brand. All went quiet and then a design appeared online that is pretty similar to her signature style.
“18months ago @wiggle bike shop came to my design studio/office and we spent a couple of hours looking at my designs with a view to buy. A year later we talked about a collaboration. The talks went quiet and they brought out their own version. Angry? Yes! Heartbroken? More than I knew was possible! Powerful? Nope” Anna Glowinski.
We’re interested to see what the response to this one is from Wiggle and Anna. It could well be a “fair-enough” case of two brands producing similar designs …After all, stars aren’t exactly a new or unique feature in fashion. Wiggle have always been a very friendly, helpful and positive name in cycling in our experience – here’s hoping that this will be met with more of the same.
There’s a pretty good story here titled “how a company gets away with stealing independent designers work” that’s worth a click.
UPDATE: Sunday 26th October:
Wiggle have just responded to Anna’s claims via their facebook page (and an email direct to her). They’ve said:
“Anna Glowinski made us aware by email at 23:12 on Friday that she believes Wiggle has plagiarised a design from her range of women’s cycling clothing she showed us in 2013.
The Wiggle colleague Anna e-mailed was on annual leave, though we did pick it up and respond to her at 17:32 on Saturday.
We confirmed that we are taking her claim very seriously and will be investigating fully on Monday. In the meantime Anna had shared her claim and frustration on Social Media. We at Wiggle would like to make it clear that we work to the highest ethical standards. If a designer has indeed used Anna’s designs and passed them off as their own then we will be taking full disciplinary action and ensuring that Anna benefits from the design royalties. We too would be upset, if indeed this is what has happened. We will provide an update at 17:00 on Monday. The Wiggle Team.”
Good to see a quick and very human response from Wiggle!
UPDATE: Monday 27th October
Wiggle released a follow up statement refuting Anna’s claims and offering to work with her to resolve the situation:
“Hi friends of Wiggle.
As promised, following our internal investigation here is our statement regarding Anna Glowinski.
At Wiggle we pride ourselves on our integrity, fairness and transparency. Therefore we have taken the claim made by Anna Glowinski (through Facebook on Friday 24th October 2014) that we have plagiarised one of her designs for our new dhb ‘Superstar’ Jersey very seriously.
After conducting a detailed and thorough internal investigation we have concluded that no plagiarism has occurred and that no designer employed by us (directly or indirectly) has broken any of our policies or, more importantly, contravened our values.
We categorically do not participate in or condone plagiarism under any circumstances. This is a zero tolerance policy for us. Our review gives us full confidence in our internal processes and the integrity of our staff in ensuring that this could not happen. We thank our colleagues for their openness and support in resolving this issue in a timely manner.
As this story is in the public domain, for our customers’ information and on behalf of our hard working colleagues that have been affected by this story, we layout our key findings below:
• On 17/1/2013, Anna Glowinski met with members of our Cycle Clothing Buying team at the London Bicycle Show at Excel.
• On 24/1/2013, Anna Glowinski sent a proposal to our Cycle Clothing Buying team regarding the possibility of her designing an exclusive collection for Wiggle.
• On 12/7/2013 our Cycle Clothing Buying team met with Anna to discuss this potential collaboration.
• On 7/8/2013, having reviewed Anna’s proposal, our Cycle Clothing Buying team emailed Anna, politely declining to range the product and sharing our feedback with her.
• On 21/7/2014, following her resignation from AnaNichoola, Anna Glowinski contacted our Cycle Clothing Buying team again, enquiring if there was the possibility of her working for Wiggle. We considered this kind offer carefully, but again decided to decline this proposal. No designs or products were discussed in these subsequent communications.
• It is important to highlight that our Cycle Clothing Buying team (based in Portsmouth) work independently from our dhb Design Team (based in London). There has never until this investigation been a conversation between these two teams at Wiggle regarding Anna Glowinski or AnaNichoola.
• Therefore it is unsurprising that in parallel (and unrelated to) the conversations and meetings between Anna and our Cycle Clothing Buying Team, our London based dhb Design team were independently working on our Autumn/Winter 2014 range, including our ‘Superstar’ Jersey. We register the intellectual property of all of our designs and to do this must save all of the ‘inspiration materials’ and initial ‘draft designs’. We can confirm with confidence by reviewing this audit trail, that the dhb Design team had no knowledge of any conversation with Anna Glowinski, nor any sight of her designs. Additionally, there had been no communication between our Portsmouth Cycle Clothing Buying Team and our London dhb Design Team relating to this new range.
• The inspiration for the Superstar Jersey (and indeed the other designs in our dhb Blok range, which it forms part of) involved many influences, including national flags and jockey jerseys – absolutely none of which could be traced from AnaNichoola or Anna Glowinski. To be clear the dhb Design team have never been in contact with Anna Glowinski or AnaNichoola Ltd at any stage.
We have shared this statement with Anna before publishing and have offered to meet up and take her though our design process and all of our inspiration material. We appreciate that the coincidence of the designs might have been puzzling for her, though there are so many designs in the marketplace today that it is unsurprising that these similarities coincidently appear from time to time. We wish Anna every success in her new endeavors.
We would also like to take this opportunity to reassure our loyal customers that we, as ever, stay true to the core ethics and principles that have led to our success to date and thank them for their continued support and custom.
Thanks for reading.
Wiggle.”
