In December, local brand Christy Ng was caught in a plagiarism scandal after netizens noted the similarity between the brand’s recent designs and the designs from several international fashion brands. In just a few weeks, the brand is again exposed for copying designs – this time, from homegrown shoe label Machino.
A tweet from @/_nsyakinah slammed Christy Ng for copying from a smaller local brand after being called out for copying for luxury brands. The Twitter user claimed that the brand’s Diana Strappy Mules Flower Edition is a copy of Machino’s Hana shoes, which have been the brand’s best-seller since its introduction in 2023. The highlight of the Hana shoe is the six-petal flower, which the brand even adopted as part of their brand identity.
While not entirely identical, many believed that the flowers on the Diana mules mimic the ones on the Hana, given the similar placement and colour scheme. It is worth noting that the Diana Strappy Mules have been part of a brand for some time now, but they only just recently announced the Flower Edition yesterday (11th January) and are already up for sale on the Christy Ng website.
Shockingly, Christy Ng isn’t the only brand copying Machino as another local brand also released an almost identical design of the Hana shoe. Happy2U, another local shoe brand, was recently called out for plagiarising Machino with its recent Blossom collection. The collection was released for Chinese New Year and featured a simplified flower motif. Many netizens have noted that the design is almost identical – but rather than six petals, the flowers on the Blossom shoe have five.
Reportedly, shortly after Happy2U released their Blossom design, a Machino representative stated on their Instagram Story that the Hana flower motifs are patented and copyrighted. They also alleged that Machino would be proceeding with legal actions.
While the Machino brand did not directly point at Christy Ng and Happy2U for plagiarism, the brand did share the behind-story of the Hana collection recently. Machino also shared images and videos taken during the pre-production stage, including the designing and manufacturing. The brand also wrote in the captions, “At Machino, we’ve always taken pride in our dedication to creativity, innovation, and the originality of our designs.”
Fans and netizens have flooded Machino’s social media platforms to share support for the brand and urge them to take action against any plagiarism. What do you think about these claims? Are the Diana in Flower Edition and Blossom collection blatant copies of the Hana? Or were Christy Ng and Happy2U only inspired by Machino?
Sources: Twitter (1)(2), Instagram, Machino, Christy Ng, Happy2U
