Tone-deaf campaigns and stolen art: The year in fashion brand fails

Try as they may, fashion brands are not impervious to tone-deaf campaigns and marketing gaffes.

Even the most storied luxury fashion houses find themselves in the occasional PR nightmare and are left to precariously pick up the pieces. Occasionally, they are successful in digging themselves out of their self-created hole relatively unscathed, but seeing as it’s the age of social media, outcry from the general public can be constant and unrelenting. Here are some of the biggest brand fails of 2016:

Zara steals art, again
Fast-fashion retailers ripping off high-end designs and selling them at a fraction of the cost isn’t anything new. In May, Zara began selling a line of clothing called the “Streetwise Collection” that appeared to be modeled almost directly off of Kanye West’s Yeezy Season 2 line. Forever 21 was embroiled in similar controversy, thanks to a selection of garments that looked a bit too similar to Yeezy’s. To read the rest of this article, please visit Glossy.

More in Marketing

The official judgmental map of Cannes Lions 2026

This map won’t tell you where to go during Cannes Lions. It will tell you where you actually are.

The definitive Digiday guide to what’s in and out at Cannes 2026

Here’s what’s in and out for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

As AI reshapes search, TikTok turns discovery into a performance pitch

The platform argues rising search activity is evidence that discovery is increasingly driving performance outcomes advertisers expect.