The art we wear

Since humans began wearing clothes, we have used them to portray characteristics about ourselves including ethnic origin, tribes, wealth, status, and religion. This paper discusses the intellectual property protection available for clothing designs in the United States, Europe, India, and China. It begins by discussing the history of fashion and fashion designing across the world during different eras. Next, the paper explains the early methods used to protect fashion designs as originators struggled to protect their creations in regimes that had not yet implemented sui generis protection for fashion designs. Some regimes, notably the United States, still do not offer sui generis protection for fashion designs and have greatly limited the industry's ability to self‐regulate against copying. The paper also discusses and compares the current regime of fashion design protection in the United States, European Union, India, and China, including their strengths and deficiencies. Finally, the paper suggests a solution to the lack of protection in the United States that would treat fashion design piracy similarly to the treatment of counterfeit goods.