Yesterday they said I couldn’t compete with higher brand names, but I was never trying to compete with them anyway. Today they say the beauty to my brand design is equal to any brand name! I always believed in my ability to design and try very hard to be true to all the influences abound, mainly because I am eclectic by nature. I don’t view this as a handicap but more of being intellectually balanced and receptive to all things possible increativity.

I’m sketching new collections while I multitask between writing this entry; answering emails; and deciding how long a grassroots business plan can work before we have to engage in more meaningful marketing strategies. I’m an artist, not an MBA graduate, so I’m not farming from a desk so to speak, I’m skillfully plowing my own fields and looking forward to the day I can reap a decent harvest. This clearly means developing greater opportunities for GGI through more distribution outlets and granting better wholesale pricing while allowing those who are savvy business minded individuals to partner with us.

As a designer I was never afraid to create what I thought was worth creating and scaling back my ideas from a down economy didn’t deter my visions of grandeur either. I am who I am and look forward to my next concept productions. Thank you for sticking with me and believing in my abilities, and for that I will be forever grateful.

Stay tuned for what’s coming down the pike, what a pleasant surprise you will find!

Sincerely,

Gary L. Jamerson aka Urban Picasso – Head Designer of GGI

I have always been an advocate for opposing counterfeit or fake designs (replica’s) of branded named products. But this doesn’t mean I don’t understand the value of counterfeiting of course. Counterfeiting is big business; if you haven’t seen the movie “To live and Die in LA” excellent points are taken from this illegal business. Greed is one; making serious money without real working habits is another reason that drives this illegal industry.

Personally I’ve been plagiarized with my designs before by verbatim. This is where the seriousness of the issue lies. Everyone gets inspired from others and modifies this or that; we see it in cars and clothing and many other products as well all the time. But to make an item exactly like another’s is called faking it. To make a product exactly like another’s and including their name on the product is called counterfeiting. And this is where the real problem lies.

Many well established companies look at it from a positive perspective of flattery and I can see why, and I’m sure you can to. I’m a small private label designer trying to become more established, and when I saw my design verbatim with another’s name on it, I felt like I was in the big times. Think about it, there are thousands of watch companies out there, and I was plagiarized, yes I had mixed emotions, but honestly, I was flattered to extreme excitement! I’m too small of a company to fight that off. But from a larger picture and living in a reality of business minded thinking, it sucks to say the least while holding back my tongue for more explicit expletives.

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