Fashion Nova removes allegedly stolen Hanifa design from its website
Anifa Mvuembafounder and creative director of Hanifa, shared images on Twitter showing two side-by-side images that immediately sparked comments.
According AfroTechthe Hanifas “Jax Mesh Dress” the design was allegedly stolen by an unnamed fashion retailer that commentators dubbed the wildly popular Fashion Nova. The design comes from the FW 21 Runway collection by Mvuemba.
Mvuemba is a black woman business owner from Washington, DC who has built her brand on her own terms. Loyal consumers have turned to her brand over the past decade, praising her bold and innovative aesthetic across her designs and runways.
Next to Fashion Nova, Mvuemba owns a small business, and Hanifa’s customers were upset by the incident and called Fashion Nova and demanded they put things right.
fashionista reports that the dubious Fashion Nova Sahara Sweater Maxi Dress was a similar silhouette priced at $49.99, a significant price difference from the Hanifa original at $459.
Mvuemba shared his frustration on Twitter, saying, “Only because this sample took me months to perfect. It’s really crazy. I’m not going to tag them or mention them. But it’s madness.”
Hanifa brand supporters immediately rallied via social media to call out the Fashion Nova brand for allegedly stealing the design.
They call it fast fashion for a reason. As quickly as the Hanifa the design was “stolen”, he was quick just as quickly removed the fashion from his site. However, Fashion Nova has not publicly responded to the accusation.
Support for Mvuemba’s Hanifa brand has grown rapidly as reports show the tweet had 21.9,000 retweets and 3,202 quote tweets at press time.
The Los Angeles fast fashion giant has reportedly previously been called out for copying designs from other black-owned independent brands like designer Jai Nice of Longing for Kloset in 2018 and Luci Wilden from Knots and vibrations in 2019.
According to Fashionista, the original “Jax Knit Gown” is currently sold out on Hanifa’s website.
