Clothing Production - use of purchased fabrics ?

[Mum1369]

Not sure if this is a daft question...
If I purchase a fabric from a wholesaler, or John Lewis or similar, can I then use it to produce clothing which I sell via retail outlets - or would they retain the rights to the design ?

there are some companies that kick up about using fabric for retailing - generally licensed characters - disney is the one that springs to mind, and maybe sanro (?are they even a company? i'm thinking of the hello kitty people). there was also a bit of a hoo-ha over amy butler fabrics a while ago, but i think she changed her rules to say that it was okay for small producers to sell on items made with her fabrics.

is it a specific fabric you have in mind or was it a general question?

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't planning on using anything with an obvious theme - disney, Cath Kidson or anything. Just the basic ginghams really. My worry is that if I do buy from John Lewis - even a basic pattern - then I don't want to spend a fortune marketing clothes etc that I cannot re-sell iyswim. I was wondering if - once a fabric is out in the shops, then rights to that design being used elsewhere are open, as it is the public domain so to speak.
I can't find any regulations anywhere and I'm not sure if they would come with the fabric individually - I've never seen any.
Also (sorry to ramble) - when small clothing companies produce clothing - surely they must source their fabric in this way, surely they can't all produce their own fabrics?
Any idea ?

I think the relevant regulation here is copyright - you are talking about whether or not you would be violating the fabric manufacturer's copyright by selling the items you make.

Since you're just making articles out of the fabric, you are not "copying" anything. The copyright to the fabric design will of course continue to belong to the designer of the fabric (unless the sale to you is deemed to be an assignment of the copyright - very unlikely), but that will have nothing to do with you or the items you are selling. So I think you're fine.

I'll try and find some legal reference to this if you are interested. You can google on "fabric copyright resale" to find some views on this.

as long as it's not a print that's easily attributed to a particular designer i would say you're completely fine. if you have a specific concern i would suggest contacting the manufacturer (presumably marked somewhere on the bolt) directly.

are the patterns you're using your own design? i'd be more concerned about that if you're using a commercial pattern as i'm fairly sure many of those have restrictions on their use, although that will be marked on the pattern itself.

That would be great, thank you.
You are right, I guess it is a copyright issue of sorts -just didn't want to get myself into a minefield before I start !

sorry to hijack, but I'm keen to make my own clothes and was wondering if you can recommend any fabric outlets that has a decent variety? We have one small shop at it is mostly curtain fabrics and some fleece!

Thanks for the tips (the search you recommended purple, was really useful)
Am using my own pattern, so no worries tehre thank goodness.
Spacepuppy - yes I could do with some tips on fabric outlets too ! There are a lot in central london around South Molton street.

i've not had much luck sourcing adult clothing fabric tbh - locally and online the choice is dire and the prices too high i get kids fabrics from germany (also expensive, but lovely and you don't need so much) and quilting stuff from the states. trawling ebay turns up t he odd thing but not reliably.

I looked into this a bit more. It seems that the principle that a first sale exhausts the copyright is strong in the US, but not as formalised in the UK. I don't think there is any direct case law or statute on the point in the UK.

But other forms of intellectual property (patents and trade marks) do have that principle - ie once the rigtht holder releases the goods into the market, they have no control over what happens to them after that (eg resale), UNLESS they explicitly mentioned that resale is forbidden, to everyone down the chain (but even this condition is against the current general tide, which is tending to limit the rights of the originator).

The principle of exhaustion of rights should raelly apply to all fabrics, regardless of how distinctive it is, as far as copyright concerns. I guess the reason why Disney is concerned with the resale is because it might look like Disney-licensed goods. In which case it becomes an issue of passing off, or maybe infringement of registered trademark, which is a very different kind of protection compared to copyright.

So, unless the sale of the fabric was explicitly conditional on no resale, I think you are in the clear. Of course the safest thing is to ask the shop and have it in writing from them, if that's at all practical.

Hope that helps. I am, by the way, a lawyer specialising in patents....

Spacepuppy,

If you can get to London, Berwick St, in Soho, is packed with fabric shops. It's where all the fashion students go.

Thanks for the info everyone. Pink&Purple - that sound like good advice - thanks ever so much for your input.