Two Newtown Stores Are Beefing Over Design Plagiarism Allegations & It All Smells ~Very~ Fishy

Two stores in Sydney’s inner-west, Sharing and Hands, are beefing with one another over allegations that one of them stole the other’s aesthetic. It’s almost giving “the Inspired Unemployed start a Newtown boutique store as a gag”.

Hands – Lifestyle Gift & Homewares Store in the trendy suburb of Newtown first posted about the alleged copycatting earlier this week via Instagram.

The business published a big dump of images comparing its social media presence, shopfront, interior, and website design to that of a newly opened neighbouring store called Sharing.

“Sharing? Or Stealing?” the first line of the eight-paragraph caption began.

The shop fronts of both stores compared side by side in a graphic published by Hands to Instagram.

“This has been a nightmare for us. From first hearing from our friends and customers that there was a shop on King St (less than 500m away) that copy-pasted us, to learning how far the copying really went.”

Another graphic by Hands showcases the similarities in logo design between the two brands.

“We could not believe that someone would do this, and the more we learned, the more disbelief we felt. “Sharing” shop has copied our brand colours, fit-out, furniture, website design, and the brands we sell—our entire concept.”

A third Hands graphic comparing the website drop-down menus of both brands.

Hands’ Post was quickly swarmed with messages of support from its Newtown customers.

“Alone I would say “coincidence” but this combination of similarities is ALARMING,” wrote one person.

“This is despicable!!!” penned another.

Then, a few days later, Sharing hit back with a Post of its own.

“Spent a day surrounded by bullying and insults!” the caption read.

“We are very sad! We will focus on our business! Thanks to those who support us.”

Sharing’s clap-back post published to its Instagram.

Honestly, this entire thing feels like a prank. It’s just … so bonkers?

Maybe this inkling is just a product of living in a world where I’ve been trained to think everything is a setup but remember back in April when the Aussie comedic duo the Inspired Unemployed landed themselves in hot water after they pulled a prank at Sydney’s Love Unboxed event?

You know, the one that featured the panel of notable Aussie feminists including Antoinette Lattouf, Clementine Ford and Yumi Stynes and the whole evening just felt … bizarre?

I’m getting flashbacks. That’s all…

Headline image credit via @HandsShopAU.

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