In the last month, images of Lirika Matoshi’s infamous “Strawberry Dress” has taken the internet by storm. Viral images on all social platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, have contributed to a fanatic following and growing appeal for the Kosovo-born designer. However, the dress, that has become a symbol of 2020, has been counterfeited by various fast fashion platforms such as Wish and Ali Express.
The design, which retails for 490 USD, is set a costly price margin. This, combined with its newfound popularity, has led mass-market manufacturers to produce inexpensive imitations at a lower price point. This unforeseen competition places Matoshi’s brand at risk, as her personal designs are now being used by companies who employ unethical and cheap labor in third world countries.
While this is a prevalent issue that exists in the international economy, Matoshi’s designs represent how one designer’s original work can suffer at the expense of corporate greed. Ali Express, a widely known shopping platform regarded for its inexpensive items, now lists reproductions of the “Strawberry Dress” for any price ranging from 20 to 30 USD.
What remains concerning about this is that companies, such as Ali Express, are known for employing unethical- often inhumane- processes in factories where workers are underpaid, overworked, and underfed. On average, a garment factory worker in Bangladesh will earn approximately 33 U.S. cents an hour, with wages in Cambodia and India averaging 85 to 58 U.S. cents respectively.
This now begs the question: how does this affect the impact of the “Strawberry Dress?” Matoshi’s dress is now a direct example of the on-going problem of fast fashion. It is not only factory workers who now struggle at the hands of mass-market manufacturers, but the designers of the original piece who are having their intellectual property stolen.
Fast fashion is a complex phenomenon because it is what it states- fast. Manufacturers and brands such as Zara, H&M, and Forever 21 are able to consistently release collections and have quick production cycles that allow for a constant outpour of products.
This has created a sense of designer burn out among several creators, who feel that the pace of fashion and the ability for manufacturers to create cheap alternatives to higher end goods has decreased the ability for original ideas and concepts.
Fast fashion has also greatly contributed towards extraneous amounts of discarded garments and clothes in landfills with millions of microplastics and fibers that continue to pollute the Earth. For designers like Lirika Matoshi who suffer from creative thievery, cheap reproductions of her clothing speak to a larger issue surrounding garment production and its adversarial effects.
The “Strawberry Dress” is but one- and certainly not the only- example of how fair trade and sustainable changes must be made in the global economy to not only protect individuals such as Matoshi, but struggling garment workers as well.
We may continue to fawn over the beauty of Lirika Matoshi’s mystical and dreamlike designs, but we must also acknowledge the injustice that prevails beneath the layers of tulle, glitter, and the complex international economy.