Three months ago DKNY offered the up-and-coming street-style photographer Brandon Stanton $15,000 to use 300 of his photos for a new display in its store windows, he says. But Stanton wanted more money, and the deal fell through. And then on Monday morning, as back-to-back-to-back fashion weeks were winding down and the spring collections were going on sale, Stanton spotted his popular photos in DKNY windows anyway — and took to Facebook to rally support.
Guy asks that DKNY donates $100,000 to a YMCA in Brooklyn in his name for using his stolen property. DKNY responds by removing posts from their facebook page and donating $25,000 to the YMCA. The post from DKNY's Facebook:
Since its founding in 1989, DKNY has been inspired by and incorporated authentic New York into its imagery. For our Spring 2013 store window visuals we decided to celebrate the city that is in our name by showcasing "Only in NYC" images. We have immense respect for Brandon Stanton aka Humans of New York and approached him to work with us on this visual program. He declined to participate in the project.
For the Spring 2013 windows program, we licensed and paid for photos from established photography service providers. However, it appears that inadvertently the store in Bangkok used an internal mock up containing some of Mr. Stanton's images that was intended to merely show the direction of the spring visual program. We apologize for this error and are working to ensure that only the approved artwork is used.
DKNY has always supported the arts and we deeply regret this mistake. Accordingly, we are making a charitable donation of $25,000 to the YMCA in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn in Mr. Stanton's name.
Thieving thieves or was it truly a mishap on the part of the Bangkok store?
Guy asks that DKNY donates $100,000 to a YMCA in Brooklyn in his name for using his stolen property. DKNY responds by removing posts from their facebook page and donating $25,000 to the YMCA. The post from DKNY's Facebook:
Thieving thieves or was it truly a mishap on the part of the Bangkok store?
If they were going to steal his images, why would they do so for only one store? In Bangkok?
I vote mixup/mistake.
this. if a single store ended up doing it, i feel like it's FAR more likely to have been a non malicious mistake.
Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice what can be chalked up to stupidity."