So, I have been selling hemp jewelry on Etsy for a couple of years now. It is my means of survival and I have finally been able to get to a point where I feel like I am working hard and sustaining myself. Whew!
http://www.psysub.etsy.com
I can admit that I am inspired by other peoples designs both on Etsy and in other places, but I do have one thing to say. I would never deliberately copy someone elses designs. Sure, I might see a color or style that I like, but as an artist it would both be ethically incorrect as well as artistically unchallenging to make something that was noticeably close to someones design.
So there is this guy, on Etsy, who also makes hemp jewelry. I am pretty sure at this point that he's being a little too "inspired" by my designs, if you get my drift. I was willing to blow it off to circumstance the first couple of times, but at this point its ridiculous and I am upset about it
I've noticed that just shortly after I post a design, like the next day... there it is! He has something super similar (not to mention, a lot of people don't make the type of hemp jewelry that I make in a lot of cases.) Let me show you some examples...

My rainbow peace sign bracelet. Yeah, we might see this style everywhere but never before with rainbow hemp before I made this.
The next day, what do I see?



My rasta hemp bracelet. This was the first rasta fishbone hemp bracelet on the internet.
The very next day, was posted this bracelet by the same user, and just .50 cheaper than mine...


These 2, I was willing to blow off; and did for quite some time. It might be kind of egotistical to say this but, I know my designs look better than his, so I didn't let it bother me. Needless to say many people have been inspired by my rasta fishbone hemp bracelet since, and that's fine... But then something happened to set me off...



My triple butterfly choker. I am one of the only people that combine hemp and pewter pendants. Also, keep in mind that I am the only person on the internet that makes gothic lace chokers out of hemp. Now, knowing this, see what he posted no less than 24 hours after I posted this design.



Don't get me wrong, I'm not super upset about it. But I do find it to be pretty rude. Sure, its going to happen, but that doesn't make it okay.

So now the intelligent question is, how do I start copywriting my designs?
In the world of cometitive fashion design and capitalism, I must defend!