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SALT LAKE CITY — Websites advertising the latest fashions at bargain prices are extremely popular. But KSL Investigators found out some of those sites are stealing photos from a Utah company to create cheap knock-offs of stylish clothing.
Several weeks ago, nine KSL reporters ordered clothing from nine different websites based in China. The goal was to find out if the deals were too good to be true. After trying on dresses and jackets, shirts and sweaters, almost everyone agreed that quality was severely lacking. But the biggest beef was that their orders looked nothing like the photo.
"I don't think I'd wear it after looking at that photograph and seeing what I got," said Debbie Dujanovic. "I might have to send it back."
It's a complaint that can be found over and over again online. One reviewer even asked, "How can this website sell things so different than the photos? I feel cheated."
Many of those photos, legitimate businesses say, are stolen.
Dujanovic ordered her shirt from Rotita.com, but you can also find it for sale on a dozen other sites. Where does the photo really come from? A clothing boutique in California, which clearly states on its website that the picture is being used illegally.
It's a problem that businesses are dealing with across the country, including here in Utah. Kayla Thueson manages Modern Vintage, a boutique in Draper. She says you can find at least 20 to 30 of their photos on sites like rosegal.com and dresslily.com.
"There's a lot of work that goes into it and basically they're stealing it," said Mike Headrick.
"Yes," answered Thueson. "It's frustrating."
Andraia Allsop is working towards her computer science degree at the University of Utah. She's also a model for Modern Vintage. Her photos can be found all over the Internet, but some are real and some are stolen. It's hard for consumers looking for a bargain to tell the difference.
Allsop's head is often cropped out in pirated photos. Sometimes they even change her hair color and add tattoos to her body.
"At first it was kind of funny, but then I realized, that's my image," said Allsop.
What else isn't funny is the amount of money this theft is costing local businesses. Ever since cheap clothing sites started advertising all over social media, sales at Modern Vintage have dropped 35 percent.
"It takes a lot of customers from us because they think, oh I can buy this same thing for cheaper," said Thueson.
But is it really the same thing? KSL Investigators found three photos on rosegal.com, allegedly stolen from Modern Vintage, and placed an order for the three items. Then they compared the real with the fake. In all three purchases, the items from Rosegal were made of cheaper material, were slightly a different color, and had damage like holes and stains.
"Do these two things look anything alike to you?" asked KSL Investigators.
"No," said Thueson. "I would never guess that I was getting this when I saw that picture."
It appears what is happening is that many bargain websites are pirating photos first and creating cheap knock-offs later. Some legitimate boutiques are taking action through intellectual property attorneys, but the process is expensive.
Modern Vintage says it is occasionally successful in having stolen photos taken down, but they quickly pop back up on other sites.
