Category: Uncategorized
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Wearing History: The Clothes We Named Assamese, the Attire the Ahoms Remember
This article is authored by Aminesh Nayan Gogoi, Editor-in-Chief, and Antabikhya Gogoi, Research Head, Fashion Law IP Blog. Clothing can preserve a history long after the language used to describe it has changed. A garment may survive in a museum, in a family’s memory, or on a contemporary fashion stage, yet the name attached to…
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Fashion’s Blind Spot: What IP Law Leaves Outside the Garment
Issued by the Editorial Board, Fashion Law IP Blog. A fashion designer can spend months developing a garment that takes only a few minutes to describe. A particular cut. An unusual proportion. A recurring silhouette. A way of placing seams. A particular combination of fabric, colour and ornamentation. Perhaps none of these elements, taken alone,…
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Barbara Gongini and the Art of Being Uncommercial
Issued by the Editorial Board, Fashion Law IP Blog. Imagine trying to sell something that looks as though it was never designed to sell. There is no obvious glamour to decode. No insistence that the body should look smaller, longer, younger or more desirable. Black appears again and again, but rarely as a simple colour…
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September 2026 in Review: Sandals, Sneakers & Similarity
Issued by the Editorial Board, Fashion Law IP Blog. 1. When a Sandal Becomes a Work of Art: Birkenstock v Lidl Can a sandal be a work of art? In September 2026, a Dutch court answered yes, at least for Birkenstock. On 23 September, the District Court of Gelderland, sitting in Arnhem, ordered Lidl to stop…
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When Fictional Architecture Becomes IP
This article is authored by Aminesh Nayan Gogoi, Editor-in-Chief, Fashion Law IP Blog. Gotham has no municipal corporation. Wakanda has no borders recognised by international law. Hogwarts has never received planning permission. Vice City has no real estate registry. Yet millions of people could identify each of them from a single frame. A skyline. A…
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When Brussels Bans the Bonfire: Regulating Unsold Fashion in India–EU Supply Chains
This article is authored by Devansh Awasthi, a third-year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow. INTRODUCTION The most expensive garment in fashion could be the one that is never worn at all. From 19 July 2026, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) prohibits covered large economic operators from…
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How Michelle Lamy Made Fashion Strange
Issued by the Editorial Board, Fashion Law IP Blog. Fashion has spent much of its history trying to make strangeness profitable. It takes what looks unfamiliar, gives it a runway, attaches a price to it, and eventually teaches consumers to call it desirable. Michèle Lamy did something more complicated. She did not simply make strange…
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The Second Life of a Luxury Bag
This article is authored by Anushka Naugain. She is an advocate practising before the High Court of Delhi, with a focus on contract law, intellectual property, and mediation. A luxury handbag does not necessarily die when its first owner stops carrying it. It may be placed in a wardrobe, passed to a daughter, sold through…
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How Rohit Khosla Put Modern India on the Fashion Map
Issued by the Editorial Board, Fashion Law IP Blog. There was a time when “Indian fashion designer” was barely an established professional identity. India had textiles. It had master craftsmen, embroiderers, weavers, tailors and centuries of sophisticated sartorial traditions. It had the sari, the kurta, the sherwani and an extraordinary vocabulary of regional dress. What…
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August 2026 in Review: Brands, Battles & the Law
Issued by the Editorial Board, Fashion Law IP Blog. 1. When Your Smartwatch Becomes a Counterfeit Store: Swatch v Samsung A smartwatch face might look like harmless software. But what happens when that digital display carries the visual identity of a luxury watch brand? In August 2026, the UK High Court ordered Samsung to pay about…
