Gift Focus - Jul/Aug 2019 (Issue 114)

INDUSTRY NEWS 13 MAJOR COUNTERFEITING OPERATION SHUT DOWN BY TRAP Trademark and Rights Holders Against Piracy (TRAP) recently announced that a major operation illegally making and selling trademarked clothing via eBay and Amazon has been broken up. Following a two-year investigation by brand protection company Surelock Global Investigators & Security Consultant, the industrial-scale screen-printing operation, in which the trademarks of artists, bands and sports teams were illegally printed on to apparel and then sold online, has been stopped. The individuals behind it have been prosecuted in a case brought by West Yorkshire Trading Standards. Apparel using imagery and logos of artists such as Arctic Monkeys, Ed Sheeran, Beyoncé, The Rolling Stones and Nirvana had garnered global counterfeit sales of more than £470,000 for the Yorkshire-based operation over a five-year period. Commercial merchandise piracy costs the industry more than £375million in lost sales each year. Online platforms have become a major target for this kind of piracy. TRAP aims to push back against this, working with rights holders and publishers to pressure worldwide marketplaces and auction sites to enforce stricter registration criteria for business seller accounts, as well as partnering with law enforcement agencies and supporting criminal litigation against persistent offenders. “We are grateful to Surelock and West Yorkshire Trading Standards for their hard work and professionalism,” said TRAP’s Trevor Jones. “TRAP will continue its work spreading awareness and building anti-piracy alliances to ensure that this sort of crime doesn’t pay.” Zatchels launches Pride col lection in support of York Pride Launched on the 31st May in time for the summer’s Pride events, was a new range of leather bags from Zatchels. The collection has been designed with support from members of the Zatchels team, fans of the brand and by working with LGBT+ bloggers and influencers. The collection launched online and at the York store, with 20 per cent of sales donated to York Pride. Zatchels has partnered with York Pride to plan ongoing support of the organisation and events throughout the summer months. Greg Stephenson, chair of York Pride, said: “We are incredibly proud to be partnering with Zatchels on its Pride range. It is always great establishing new relationships with companies who really value the importance of equality and diversity, and the fact that the organisation is donating 20 per cent of bag sales to York Pride is brilliant. York Pride exists because of volunteers, sponsors and fundraising initiatives, so this money will really benefit the event. While there are numerous ways the money will be used, one of our current priorities is to enhance the A/V during the Parade given its mammoth growth after the past few years. Extra funding for this will be really helpful.” Zatchels directors Dean Clarke and Brian Brady said: “The whole team here at our Zatchels factory is proud to support York Pride and the various worthwhile causes they in turn support. We’ve had a great deal of fun producing the bags, displaying the iconic colours of Pride. As a UK business and employer, we feel it’s important to promote equality in all its forms, and we believe these designs are a celebration of just that.” The range includes satchels, a city backpack, a shopper bag, a soft backpack, a twist lock saddle bag and more in leather and decorated with the Pride rainbow flag. Bags can be personalised with names, initials or short messages, and each bag comes with a lifetime guarantee. New collaboration for Sock Academy Sock Academy recently announced a brand-new collaboration with the renowned social media artist Sketchy Nelly. The collaboration will see the production of a bright and colourful new gift set of socks for cat lovers, titled Purrfect. The box of six mismatched socks will be an expansion to the United Oddsocks brand. Claire Catlin, deputy commercial director of Sock Academy, said: “It has been a joy working with Sketchy Nelly on these designs – from the moment we saw her amazing work, we knew we had to work with her! We’re so in love with the cute kitten designs she has created for us, and they look simply amazing on the socks.” The new socks will be on show for the first time at Home & Gift. Sketchy Nelly is an illustrator and designer based on the south coast of the UK. She creates illustrations and design work for personal and business clients, including logo design, caricature commissions and other bespoke projects. Sock Academy is a distinctive gifting company founded in 2006. United Oddsocks is one of three brands under the Sock Academy label, sitting alongside Cockney Spaniel and Cucamelon.