EDITORIAL: Stormy weather for T-shirts

Paul Taggart
Storm in a T-shirt was one of the top Hawke's Bay Today headlines of last week, and nicely summed up the brouhaha that arose after a T-shirt company used the design of the Meeanee Garage on one of its products.
It was an issue that resulted in some heated exchanges, with garage owner Bryan Church getting hot under the collar over the use of his business' image, and the people behind the garments' production also getting agitated as a result of the publicity.
At first glance it's all a little odd. Diana Hoeslich, owner of the Tokoroa Pie Cart, which features on another of the Huffer company's T-shirts, said she was happy for her business to be chosen, and she couldn't understand why Mr Church was angry.
And why should the clothing company's people be upset? As a consequence of all the fuss, the T-shirts have been selling like hot cakes. Any publicity is good publicity, the old maxim goes.
Well, there's a bit more to the issue than meets the eye. While Mr Church didn't put his case particularly eloquently - his comment to a Hawke's Bay Today photographer that his camera could be "going up your arse" was unnecessary - he does have a point.
He claims the Huffer people - Napier designers Richard Cleall-Harding and Rakai Karaitiana who were contracted to find "hard case" businesses - turned up at his garage and said they wanted to take photos for an EIT photography project.
As a consequence he let them carry on, not knowing what their real intentions were.
Streetwear for teens and young adults is a huge business, with the Huffer T-shirts retailing for $80 each in Wellington. One Tokoroa shop sold 136 pie-cart shirts in just two days - that's more than $10,000 revenue. The garments may also be sold in Australia and Japan in the future.
It may be true that Meeanee Garage is not a registered trademark, patent or design. But whatever the nuances of the trademark and copyright laws, the garage owner has a moral case, which is supported by the fact that Steve Dunstan, a Huffer director, has since offered him a cut of each garment sold.
To Mr Church, the T-shirt team were scavengers who were out to rip him off.
And even the name of the T-shirt series - World Famous in Aotearoa - bears an unhealthy similarity to the L & P advertisement line - World Famous in New Zealand.
The question that the Huffer people should really answer, is would they use the Coca-Cola, America's Cup or Ferrari images and names without an agreement with the companies in question?
Or start selling Lord of the Rings T-shirts without talking to Peter Jackson?
The answer is, No, unless they were particularly stupid, as lawyers would be crawling all over them within days. But smaller businesses are easier to exploit. Mr Church, therefore, has struck a blow for small businesses everywhere.