Watch out for CHICV
How an unscrupulous Chinese company steals photos, shuts down artists, caused me to pull artwork out of a gallery, and continues to woo you with gorgeous (but stolen) pieces from artists all over the world
Long title huh? Heads-up: It’s a bit of a long-winded piece too (with a couple of purposeful misspellings)
Setting the stage:
You know those ads for gorgeous artsy clothing, scarves and shawls with really really low prices (and yes, they are also perpetually on-sail), that pop up on social media and in the middle of the articles you’re reading? Ten to one those are stolen photos that a (the string of adjectives I want to use here would probably offend you) Chinese company is using to take advantage of unsuspecting folks - YOU.
Here’s how it works:
They use stolen photos of beautiful looking pieces (typically clothing and accessories), place ads on social media, google, amazon (you will start to see them everywhere). When you go to their website it looks OK - unless you dig a bit deeper.
It takes weeks, or even months, for the item to reach you and when it does, it’s a horrid polyester ‘piece’ that kind-of, sort-of resembles what you thought you were getting. But don’t try to return it, because it will cost an arm and a leg to do so. So, now you are left with the only tool you’ve got - leaving a bad review - which they expect and doesn’t phase them, because they are already shutting down their old website and popping up a new one.
The company’s umbrella name is CHICV International but they go by hundreds of appealing names like ‘ Zolucky‘ and ‘ Noracora‘ - each with a slightly different looking website. Their business model is simple: use other people’s photos to make customers think they are getting something gorgeous for nothing, make returns too costly, when one company lights up with horrid reviews and complaints on google, amazon etc. shut it down and pop up another. Yup, like a real life Hydra.
How to spot them:
- Absurdly low prices
- Perpetually ‘on-sail’ (yes, I know that is the wrong spelling)
- Gorgeous photos that don’t seem to go together - a real website will have a unified look
- Website ‘about page’ looks off, or actually lists CHICV
If you’re still with me, here is how it impacts artists:
- At first, we are enraged and file complaints with whoever is hosting the ads (google, FB, Amazon, etc). We experience momentary optimism when the offending sites are taken down… but our hopes are dashed when we find out others have popped up in their place.
- We watermark and sign our pieces… but that backfires, because it doesn’t stop the problem (they just use the photos WITH our signatures and watermarks) and now it looks like we are collaborating with them!
- After a bit, we start to see a reduction in sales from our websites - finally a potential customer mentions that they saw ‘the same thing for much, much less elsewhere’… and the bigger impact makes sense.
- Worse is yet to come - anyone who’s fallen for this now doesn’t trust that the pieces they see on-line are as beautiful in-person, so they start avoiding all pieces that look like it, including the real artist’s work.
Now to the bit about the gallery: Who knew that the impact of this horrid company would hit brick and mortar stores and shine a spotlight on low integrity?
A couple of years ago, my paintings and fiber art were in an art gallery in the Seattle area (I’m not going to tell you the name because I don’t want to negatively impact any of the other artists displaying there) and one day a friend and I walked in to find the gallery owner in the middle of unpacking multiple boxes of Chinese knock-offs of MY DESIGNS. (Oh did I mention, she was standing under her sign ‘Support Local Artists’.)
My girlfriend - who found her tongue before I could - asked ‘why would you buy that when Beverly’s original work is in your shop?’. The gallery owner responded ‘this was so much less expensive!’ And then she ranted and raved that it didn’t look like my work! She actually asked us to lay my piece and the sham piece on the floor together so she could ‘take a photo and complain to the Attorney General that what she bought wasn’t like the original’! (Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let her lay my work on the floor.)
This was actually the last straw in a series of red flags, so the next morning, I presented her with my notice and a lovely team of friends helped me remove my artwork from her gallery.
What can you do?
Believe me, artists are doing everything we can from behind the scenes to stop CHICV. However, really the only way to shut them down, is to stop their revenue source. And that means you.
So… if you see something intriguing in an online ad, look a bit deeper.
If the deal seems too good to be true, you guessed it - it is.
Check out the website - does it look consistent? Or like a hodgepodge of photos, styles and designs? What does the about page look like - does it actually list CHICV? Have you seen the same pieces (or very similar ones) advertised on other company websites? Look up the reviews and pay attention! If you see something fishy, you can do a reverse google image and find the real artist. Bonus: send her a note, so she can continue her game of whack-o-mole.
On behalf of artists around the world, please look deeper into WHO deserves your patronage - not only to protect yourself, but also to support the real artist who is working her hands raw making gorgeous one-of-a-kind pieces. That amount the real artist is asking? She wrestles with herself because she has a tendency to undervalue her time and expertise and ask for way under what she deserves (most artists don’t earn a living wage - but that’s another story).
What is true however, is that the real artist’s price will be higher than what you see in that too-good-to-be-true advertisement AND when you go to her website, everything looks like it belongs there AND when you google her name, you will find true beauty and a real story from a real person.
Whew - if you made it to here, thanks for sticking with me and letting me rant!
Nuno Felt Shawl ‘River of Color in Purple’