Are The State Necklaces Urban Outfitters Allegedly Copied Even Original?

by Julia Rubin | 1:24 pm, May 28th, 2011

This week Urban Outfitters was accused of copying a collection of necklaces from independent jewelry designer Stevie Koerner of tru.che. But were the silver state-shaped pendants with hearts punched through them even Koerner’s original design?

Regretsy dug a little deeper into the story, and found that a whole bunch of Etsy designers sell similar jewelry. So…who is copying from who? Can it even be considered copying? Writes the site’s awesomely pseudonymed Helen Killer (also known as April Winchell):

Are all of these independent designers on Etsy stealing from each other? Or this is such a simple and generic idea that many people can come up with it at once? Certainly the idea of a charm in the shape of a state is nothing new; they’ve been selling those to tourists for years. Is it such a leap to put a heart in one?

Let’s look at some photographic evidence. On the left is Urban’s design, on the right is Koerner’s: