Forget about the term “Knockoffs” which we addressed in the Jan/Mar 2013 issue of Shoeholics magazine, in stores now. Here’s something we stumbled into recently and would like to invent the term “Hybrid Copy” or “Hybrids” to describe when 2 styles/components of shoes become one, a new concept starting to pop up in the marketplace with designers like Jeffrey Campbell taking the lead.

The art of knocking off/copying other designers has been a touchy subject plaguing the shoe industry for decades. Designers doing the copying all point out that consumers buying the less expensive copied products are not the same as the consumers who would venture into luxury stores to pick up the expensive and original equivalent. This is still an open debate in the industry. While arguments continue to brew over that matter, some designers are taking it a little further by stirring the “melting pot” a bit by combining 2 different looks to become a whole new look all by itself. As if the consumers are not confused enough. Now, they have even more reason to make their brains work overtime when they spot these designs in stores, wondering “where have I seen this part on the shoe before?” Or perhaps chime “Wow! That’s something new I have never seen before!”

It will all depend on how well tuned in the consumer is to shoe designers and their original concepts enough to know where each part of “the new look” was derived from. Well, as the saying goes, “there’s nothing new under the sun”. Pretty much everything that exist today were derived and inspired by something that existed before them.

You can read more about this subject in the Jan-Mar 2013 print edition of Shoeholics magazine where images of original designs are paired with the “inspired” versions. Featured below are some of Shoeholics magazine pages of what we uncovered and shared with our readers worldwide. Also included in the same issue are comments made by our members on Facebook about this subject. This particular issue can still be found in stores.

 

What do you think? Leave A Comment!

3,391