The entire fashion world is based on clever carbon copy cloning. Big business lets the little brands do all the work and then when something starts trending they roll in and knock it off. Now, that’s what LA based micro label Echo Park Surf Squad is accusing our least favorite action sports mall retailer PacSun of doing.
Today (May 23, 2014), PacSun launched their new Golden State of Mind advertising campaign which features a slew of images of waves Photoshopped into photos of iconic locations where waves shouldn’t be. According to a post on Reddit this adding waves to photos is something EPSS has been doing for over a year. Above is photo evidence: top photo is EPSS’s original. Bottom photo is a PacSun knock off.
Here’s what EPSS says:
We’ve been a brand with integrity, sewing and making our clothes from scratch in Los Angeles since early 2012 and slowly building. It started off as a joke, us photoshopping a wave in Echo Park Lake and we just laughed. My friend and co-founder have been posting photos like this regularly on our Instagram account since then. . . Cut to May 23rd, 2014 (today) and I wake up to a bunch of emails saying Pac Sun lifted our entire campaign, our entire theme for themselves. . . Please help us get the awareness out there and know that NONE of your creative ideas are sacred.
We feel for EPSS, but also aren’t missing the irony of their complaints when most of their products are based on borrowed art/logos (Santa Cruz Skateboards, Powell, Suicidal Tendencies, Huntington Beach, etc. . . ) That doesn’t excuse PacSun’s “creative team” from blatantly ripping them off, but remember, PacSun’s highly paid marketing and design professionals are on deadline and under pressure. They can’t be expected to come up with their own ideas. That would be much too time consuming and in teen fashion it’s all about speed.
[Link: Reddit]
not surprised. Seen it before. Plus they’re turning their back on the entire action sports industry while chasing street brands.
EPSS is the ULTIMATE hacks. They stole a concept by a reputable photographer and conceptual artist and have been trying to call it their own for two years. Corporate hacks? How about INDEPENDENT SCABS referring to the EPSS guys. They’re butt hurt about a large, well manged corp paying homage to an artist because there “artistic campaign” has now been found out to not be their own. Sounds like some massive deflect icing. My thoughts, at least Pac didn’t try to call something their own and take credit like EPSS did. Fucking hosers.
It’s a shame how a handful of ignorant people can spin something seemingly coincidental into a wildly inaccurate portrayal of what’s going on here. And an incredibly immature move on this website and any other that considers themselves to be credible source of information at all so choose a side, fly a flag, or label something as fact without even entertaining the thought of reaching out for the truth from those who actually have it. This is pathetic by all accounts and nothing more than a desperate cry for attention from a brand who obviously has nothing else to talk about. The idea of blending 2 environments together is anything but new. If you’ve ever stumbled around the internet and have even a small part of your brain functioning at full strength, you’d have to concede to this fact. Was PS the first? No. Was EPSS the first? No. Was Sean Davey the first? Fuck, probably not, but he seems to have been the first to stand behind it from a purely “surf” perspective, or at least leave a large enough breadcrumb trail to attached his name to it. Looking at PS’s campaign as a whole, something I’m sure very few of the people holding pitchforks have actually done, shows that this is a technique used within a wide variety of environments and images. Being that PS is a California brand that clearly has no intention of “turning their back on the entire action sports industry”, why would surfing be excluded from the larger story within this aesthetic? How is Sean Davey not being brought up by EPSS, any of their friends trolling around social media, or this website? Either because the ignorance of all parties involved runs that deep that you never even bothered to do your research, or because it’s intentionally being left out since it would make EPSS just as guilty of plagiarism as they are accusing PS.
Being someone who is deeply involved in this industry on many fronts, it’s ridiculous to say that there isn’t creative crossover or overlapping in any given direction at any given time just due to the nature of this many people having similar interests, speaking to a common public. Shit PS itself launched its “Golden State of Mind” campaign just 2 years before Vans launched their “Off the Wall is a State of Mind” campaign. Was that enough to make anyone stop and scratch their head for a minute? Yes, but did you hear PS taking to social media and rallying the troops? No! Because it would’ve been desperate.
PS is nothing more than a bad word of those who need to vilify corporations in an attempt to reassure themselves of their relevance and authenticity. It’s easy to hate the big guy who makes more money than you. But let’s not forget the countless small brands that have only matured into success due to their exposure and support on PS’s enormous national stage. No one’s bitching then. If you don’t like the retailer, don’t shop there, but do your research and check your facts before putting anyone on a cross for shit you’ve hated them for well before this hypocrisy ever hit the page.
I’m sure this comment will be deleted just as some others I’ve seen speaking out against EPSS… Which just validates all the points which have just been made… And we both know that.
haha, I love how obvious these comments are… I guess EPSS really hit a nerve with Pacsun & crew.
PACSUCK tried to hire EPSS and when they declined to work with such a lame company, they were ripped off. Typical.
Since when did the surfing community become such little bitches. Who cares.
Are You Seroius & SURFBOARD work for PacSun, haha. love the “large well managed corp” bit, drink the Kool Aid much? question, if Pac Sun is paying “homage” to Sean Davey, just how much are they actually “paying” him for this ad campaign? probably zero, so that’s called stealing not homage in the real world. that to me seems like what a hack would do when they get pinched for shoplifting, say it’s an homage. this isn’t even a story anyways, just another case of a big company using little guys for ideas. Pac Sun is a faux action sports mass retailer trying to take money from mall kids by selling them a lifestyle they do nothing to add to, just take from. just like they took from Sean Davey and EPSS. Golden State of Mind? more like How Do We Make Money Off That?
I read this post and decided to do a little homework on it, as I am a fan of Echo Park Surf Squad. They were in fact approached to do some creative for PacSun and when they turned it down, PacSun moved forward with ripping off the idea and passing it off as their own. I commented on one of PacSuns Instagram posts, politely asking for a comment on the reasoning behind stealing the idea. The post was deleted within 5 minutes, to which I politely asked why they deleted my post, which resulted in me being blocked from their IG account within another 5 minutes.
My post:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ly85h8fmntm98mk/pacsun.PNG
To Are You Serious’s point, yes artist / photographer Scott Mutter was doing this type of work long before either of them, but with the fact that PacSun approached EPSS about doing some creative for them, I find your argument extremely weak. PacSun is not paying homage to Mutter’s work and I would be shocked if anyone at PacSun has even seen his work. You can say that EPSS stole their idea, but you can’t use that to excuse the actions of PacSun.
Apparently PacSun has the balls to steal creative, but they don’t have the respect to address it publicly.
I embrace the open discussion on the topic and encourage both sides to express their opinions, but, if you’re going to take a stand, do it out in the open and don’t hide behind the anonymity of a screen name (i.e. – Surfbored, Are You Serious) Give your position some validity. I can only assume that Surfbored is not your legal name, and that in fact you are probably a employee of the PR department at PacSun (This is just an opinion. I do not have any information confirming that you are an employee of PacSun)
My name is Casey Bevington and I stand behind my statement.
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