Proenza Schouler Not Happy With Target For Selling PS1 Knockoff (PHOTOS, POLL)

Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler aren't too happy with Target for selling a purse that arguably looks like their PS1 bag, Cathy Horyn writes.

The PS1, which retails for $1,600, first made the fashion rounds two years ago and has remained popular since. We're not sure when Target started purveying the "Mossimo Messenger" (price: $34.99), but Horyn writes that bloggers first started pointing out the similarities last month. Even Hernandez attests, "The attitude, the slouch of the bag -- they got the weight really right."

The designers are particularly disappointed because they've previously partnered with Target for one of its Go International clothing collections. A Target spokesman told Horyn, "Target is committed to offering our guests everyday essentials alongside highly differentiated merchandise, all at a great value. It always has been and continues to be the policy of Target to respect the intellectual property rights of others."

Take a look at the two bags (the PS1 is on the left, image from Net-A-Porter.com and the Mossimo one is on the right) and tell us what you think.

Quick Poll

Is Target guilty of selling a PS1 knockoff?

YES! The two bags look really alike.

NO! They're different -- not to mention the difference in price.

Unsure.

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

Read the rest at the Times.

Comments

[Tayneshia Jefferson]

01:15 PM on 04/09/2011

Both of these bags are ugly, so it doesn't matter.

[Paula Garrone]

03:04 PM on 03/31/2011

I love orange bags! theyre soooo in right now! I just recently saw it on Gossip Girl and ordered it off a website that tells you where to find fashion from shows

[Paula Garrone]

03:06 PM on 03/31/2011

here's the link if anyone wants it!
http://www.findthatstyle.com/

[Paula Garrone]

03:07 PM on 03/31/2011

heres the link if yall want it!
http://www.findthatstyle.com/

[caseyblab]

08:26 PM on 03/30/2011

LL Bean has had the canvas schoolbag for years and years.

[tsudopnem]

06:52 AM on 03/30/2011

The most I'll spend on a bag is $500. You can get a lovely, quality leather bag for that price, and it'll last. The Target one, while being sold by a company that should be boycotted due to its stance on gay rights, is a piece of garbage, like the store.

[exhiliration]

05:12 AM on 03/30/2011

the target bag looks like a school bag and the ps1 doesnt. No unless proenza thinks it has a patent on shoulder bags. to be honest they are the ones who have knocked off other designsers. I totally disagree that target is knocking it off.

[RFlo]

01:05 AM on 03/30/2011

Most handbags look alike. What's the point?

[caseyblab]

01:01 AM on 03/30/2011

Both are basically the old-fashioned school satchel. Hardly a new design and 2 different markets.

[Laughert9]

08:23 PM on 03/29/2011

It doesn't matter. People who value civil rights don't shop target.

[RFlo]

01:04 AM on 03/30/2011

Keep telling yourself that. People value their wallets too. And unless you shop at some pure American store where everything is made non trade, I'd clean up that naieve attitude. Most stores use different countries that treat people like slaves, especially Wal Mart.

[rkg]

06:12 AM on 03/30/2011

I believe the reference was to gay rights, not sweatshops. Target's not really wallet-friendly these days either lol. Have you checked out their prices on veneer furniture? Maaan.

[SCHMELDO]

03:29 PM on 03/29/2011

Actually - I've just read somewhere that knock-off bags are kind of like gate-way bags for the real thing. Once someone buys the fake a small percentage aspire to, and often purchase, the geniune article. My guess is that designers aren't losing much business to the "inspired by" bags because most would not ever buy a $1600 bag to begin with. And no - they don't really look that similar.

[frank arevalo]

01:33 PM on 03/29/2011

whats wrong with owning a 1,600 dollar bag , that person ends up using there bag for years and then sells it for almost the original price while cheaper versions of mass produced goods are designed to last 6 months. if i buy a louis vuittion,coach, burberry wallet right now for 500-600 it will be of fine leather and hand made by master tailors, if you buy a cheap wallet from ross or target you be be buying a 30-40 dollar wallet every xmas . i know because i see the bins and bins of the mass produced trash every xmas shopping season. i think people forget that these "designers" are originally famed for producing the highest quality / longest lasting goods some for over a hundred years. spend your money they way you were meant to . you probably arent the demographic or a 1600-100,000 bag anyway right

[exhiliration]

05:13 AM on 03/30/2011

actually a lot of the goods at ross and marshalls etc are designers.

[hema333]

08:53 PM on 03/28/2011

good bags...

[usamade]

09:06 AM on 03/28/2011

Proenza is very soft calf leather and Target is plastic. You can definitely tell the difference.

[Jonathan Joseph]

01:00 AM on 03/28/2011

Sorry my last comment was truncated for some reason. In any case, while I find knockoffs to be tacky and rather easy to spot for the most part I also believe that fashion should be accessible at many price points. Surely the target bag takes some stylistic cues from the Horyn but it isn't really a knockoff per se. I see a lot of comments which seem to vilify those of us who make the choice to buy designer apparel and accessories (especially during a recession) and while I can understand some people finding the prospect of shelling out big bucks on clothing when they themselves are going through tough times to be outlandish I also feel that the sartorial among us get lambasted for our appreciation of finer things. Clothing for many is a hobby and a passion in the same way that sports, cars, dining out or model ships are for others and those hobbyists don't usually get nearly the same amount of flack that fashion and style followers do. Why is that? What is it that makes so many view us as "crazy"; are we more crazy than season ticket holders, convention goers or the people with upteen

[RFlo]

01:06 AM on 03/30/2011

You lost me at "Sorry. . . ."

[Jonathan Joseph]

12:48 AM on 03/28/2011

While I find the practice of buying knockoffs to be tacky and distasteful, let alone supporting a varie

[gubblebumm]

11:54 PM on 03/27/2011

They are messenger bags for heavens sake they gave a similar shape. It's like saying only one designer can use the classic clutch shape or backpack shape. If anything this has been good advertisement for the target bag, never knew bags had attidue