Alison Brockman, owner of Fun Dresses, was shocked to see a dress exactly like hers for sale inside a store in the Houston area.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Entrepreneur and mother Alison Brockman built her business from her dining room table.
“I thought there was a hole in the fan gear market for women and girls,” Brockman said.
She designed the dress using real jersey and added a skirt for a one-of-a-kind look.
“We were confident that we could move forward in our own way,” Brockman said.
She applied for a patent. Once it was put on hold, “Fandres” was born.
“I wore it to the Astros game the next day, and people were stopping me left and right asking, 'Where did you buy that dress? Where did you buy that dress?'” Brockman said. “Before I know it, I'm at a World Series game and I'm watching Jose Altuve's players running around wearing my dress.”
Business began to boom.
“When my son is napping, I get the seed machine out and get to work,” Brockman said.
She sought to partner with Outerstaff, a major apparel manufacturer based in New York.
“I thought this was a big moment for me,” Brockman said.
In fact, they had ordered some dresses for her, but the meeting didn't go well.
“I asked them why they ordered these dresses and what they did with them,” Brockman said. “He said to me, 'I put them up in my inspiration room to create something similar.'”
Fast forward to Easter weekend, and she found her dress design on the shelf.
“I was pretty shocked to see what I saw. It was more than a resemblance,” Brockman said. “They were made the same way I make dresses, right down to the hem. That's my design. I feel like they took that away from me.”
She took to social media and her posts have since gone viral.
“Sadly, this is a very common occurrence,” said attorney Katherine Treistman.
Treistman is a senior partner at Arnold and Porter, where he practices intellectual property law. She says Brockman has legal recourse.
“This idea is protected by a pending patent,” Treistman said.
The dress Brockman was selling was made by Outer Stuff, the very company she met last year. KHOU 11 News reached out to Outer Staff six times by phone and email for a statement. At the time of publishing this article, we are still waiting for a response.
“It's not good to take somebody's idea like that, replicate it, and then take it out of the equation,” Brockman said.
Brockman said her attorney is considering the next appropriate legal steps to protect her rights.
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