Taylor Swift accused of scamming black-owned fashion brand

Less than a week after releasing her seventh album, Taylor Swift has already tweaked promotional products after being accused of “stealing” artwork from a black-owned company.
Taylor, 30, surprised fans when she released Folklore on July 24 and simultaneously launched a merchandise collection that included a cozy cream-colored cardigan with embroidered stars and a small tag that read “the folklore album.”
But Amira Rasool, CEO of e-fashion retailer The Folklore, quickly noticed that her brand and Taylor’s album didn’t have just one name in common: the style of the logo was also quite similar, enough that she accuses the singer of tearing off the drawing.
Popular: Taylor Swift released her seventh studio album, Folklore, to great fanfare last week

Things to buy: She has also launched a line of merchandise including this cardigan, which has a label saying “folk album”

Sounds familiar! But Amira Rasool, CEO of online fashion store The Folklore, accused Taylor and her team of ripping off the logo of her online fashion outlet, The Folklore.
Rasool, 24, said In the style that when she first learned the name of Taylor’s new album, she didn’t give much thought to the fact that it was the same as her website, since “folklore” is a fairly common word.
It wasn’t until a friend drew her attention to Taylor’s new products, which include tech clothing and accessories, that she noticed that the font Taylor used for the word “folklore” was similar to that that she uses for her website.

Business owner: Rasool had his own custom designed logo by Caine Casket in 2018
Rasool had his own logo custom designed by Caine Casket in 2018.
Taylor’s products also have the word “the” written vertically along the letter “F” in folklore, as does the Rasool logo.
“At first I was so shocked,” said the New Jersey native. “I had heard of so many different black women in particular who had been ripped off by big companies by celebrities. And I just couldn’t believe this was happening to me.
‘It’s just very hard to believe that [Swift’s team] haven’t met him, ”noting that his site has one of Google’s top results for the word“ folklore ”. “And if they met him – which I believe they did – for them to model Taylor’s merchandise on our logo, especially after seeing what our business is all about, that particularly puts me off.”

“I had heard of so many black women in particular who had been ripped off by big companies by celebrities… I just couldn’t believe this was happening to me,” Rasool said.

Responsible: Rasool decided to call Taylor on Twitter, sharing a side-by-side comparison of the two logos
Rasool decided to call Taylor on Twitter, sharing a side-by-side comparison of the two logos.
‘Hold on, hold on. Taylor Swift, is it one thing to use the name ‘Folklore’, but are we also stealing logos from black women? ‘ she wrote.
“It’s not just about The Folklore and my personally hurt feelings, but it hurts our brand,” she explained to Instyle.
“I’ve had people ask me, ‘Oh, did you collaborate with Taylor on these? They just assumed it was a collaboration because of the similarity of the logos.
She admitted that Taylor herself probably didn’t find her fashion site and copied it, but says she’s still responsible because she’s taking advantage of it.
So she asked her lawyer to contact Taylor’s folks – and was thrilled when they acted quickly to start rectifying the situation.

Fixed: Taylor and his team quickly updated the commodity to remove the word “the” to reduce similarities


Much better: Rasool praised Taylor and called it a “big first step”
“My lawyer Eric Ball at Fenwick & West has been in contact with Taylor manager Jay Schaudies since noon yesterday after receiving our letter expressing concern about the merchandise on Taylor’s website,” she told InStyle.
“Taylor’s team took swift action to have ‘the’ removed from all merchandise. I congratulate her team for recognizing the damage they have done to our brand.
“I recognize Taylor has been a strong advocate for women protecting their creative rights, so it was good to see her team on the same page.
“It was a great first step and we are currently in conversation with Taylor’s team on the next steps to turn things around.”
In a statement given to DailyMail.com, Taylor’s company, 13 Management, insisted that no cardigans with the offending “The Folklore” logo had been sent – adding that the design had not yet been sent. made.
“Yesterday we were made aware of a complaint that the specific use of the word ‘the’ before ‘folk album’ on some of the folk album derivative products was of concern,” a spokesperson said.


Show their support: Several famous Taylor Swift fans – including Halsey – shared photos of themselves in their own cardigans

At the service of folkloric reality! Jonathan Van Ness also wore his cardigan

Drama: even Spencer Pratt had one and posed for a moody photoshoot

The pairing Jesse Tyler Ferguson and husband Justin Mikita wore matching clothes


Something for everyone: Cheer coach Monica Aldama shows off her cardigan (left), as does Kobe Byant’s daughter Natalia (right)
“Absolutely no merchandise using ‘the’ before the words ‘folk album’ has been made or shipped. In good faith, we honored his request and immediately informed anyone who had ordered merchandise with the word “the” preceding “the folk album” that they would now receive their order with the design change. ”
On the Taylor Merchandise website, the logo has already been changed to exclude the word “the”.
But while fans of the popstar may not have received their cardigans yet, her famous supporters have been given an early and very special take on the design.
Instead of the Folklore logo, cardigans sent to Taylor’s friends have a small silver Taylor Swift patch on the lower left near the hem.
Many celebs proudly posted pictures of themselves modeling the knitwear, which had a Taylor Swift logo towards the bottom hem,
Among them are Halsey, Jonathan van Ness, Spencer Pratt, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Cheer coach Monica Aldama and Kobe Bryant’s daughter Natalia.