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May 1st, 2009

READ: Urban Threads Response

Today, I am devoting all of my attentions on the Urban Threads/Sublime Stitching debacle. For a project fix, head over to Craftster – there’s always something going on over there.

Image used without permission, since I now have no idea who credit

This whole debacle is wearing me out and its only two days old. Everyone in the blogosphere is weighing in on the problem, but I am concerned that people are getting very excited and at the same time way off-topic.

In case, you haven’t been chained to your keyboard, here’s the abridged version:

Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching is apparently upset than Urban Threads Embroidery pattern company has sprung up out of nowhere and has stolen her business idea and is knocking off her designs. She contends that Urban Threads is really a mega-corporation named Embroidery Library Inc passing itself off as an independent artist named Niamh O’Connor. She is annoyed that UT has stolen both her designs and her instructions when they could have just partnered with Sublime Stitching to distribute her designs. All of this was published on Flickr in a letter to Diem of Tiny Haus. Of course, Embroidery Library and Urban Threads deny all of the allegations.

Everyone has released statements about the problem available to read here:

So who’s right? Is Urban Threads a blatant rip-off of Sublime Stitching?

Both companies sell embroidery patterns and both impose traditional copyright and licensing limits on their designs. However, they each have distinctly different sales models. Jenny sells sets of hand embroidery designs in related themes for $5.00 a piece, printed on transfer paper and shipped to you. Urban Threads, on the other hand, sells one design at a time for $1.00 a piece available for instant download in both machine and hand embroidery formats.

Why is this important?

As far as I’m concerned, the mega-corporation argument is irrelevant. I see no obvious problems with Embroidery Library Inc. If the owners have decided to support their former intern by helping her start her own embroidery pattern company, then that’s great. It doesn’t appear to me that EL or Niamh O’Connor have gone out of their way to hide their affiliation, so I think the relationship outlined is plausible. I think that Urban Threads is entitled to its share of the embroidery pattern market. UT appears to be supporting independent artists, so I don’t think they are deceiving people or being disingenuous about their business in that way.

Obviously, I think that Jenny Hart is also entitled to her share of the embroidery pattern market. She produces a quality product and has worked hard to establish a loyal customer base in a discerning segment of the population.

The entire problem comes down to whether you think the designs in question are Niamh’s unique interpretations of themes in high demand in the current indie craft market, or whether you think Niamh has intentionally taken designs from Jenny with the intent to take business away from Sublime Stitching by offering a lower priced knock-off of her designs.

  • Do I think that Urban Threads has a better business model, allowing them to sell their designs for less money and tempt people away from Sublime Stitching? Yes.
  • Do I think the entire Urban Threads business is built around knocking off Jenny Hart’s designs? No.
  • Do I think that Niamh O’Connor knocked off some of Jenny Hart’s designs? Most likely.
  • Do I think that Niamh O’Connor/Urban Threads owes Jenny Hart/Sublime Stitching an apology? Probably.

Do I think most of this could have been cleared up with a letter to Embroidery Library Inc or Urban Threads directly? Yes.

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