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12 August 2019, 15:31
A Billie Eilish collaboration with Siberia Hills was scrapped after the brand apologized for “taking to” a popular online anime artist. The merch featured Nozomi’s fan art from “Love Liveâ€.
Items from the Billie Eilish X Siberia Hills collaboration have been pulled after the brand admitted to “taking” an artist’s work for the capsule collection. The anime-inspired streetwear collection was available on Billie Eilish’s merchandise portal, however, the designs have since been withdrawn following the revelation that Siberia Hills used the work of a designer known as @m_qurokawa on Twitter.
READ MORE: Billie Eilish just unveiled her new clothing line and we need it all
Billie had previously promoted the collaboration on Instagram and Twitter, although Siberia Hills clarifies that Billie and her team were not aware of the stolen work.
In Siberia Hills’s apology, they wrote:
“To the talented artist Mr. Qurokawa, we apologize for taking your artwork for our merchandise collection with Billie Eilish. Billie and her team weren’t aware that we were using your art, they just believed in the product.
“We were the creative force behind this collaboration. To Billie and her fans, we apologize for causing this problem. These items will not be published. To those who have already purchased, you will be refunded.”
@m_qurokawa also addressed the situation, tweeting that he had been informed that his Nozomi fan artwork from Love Live! (an existing copyrighted character) were used without his permission.
I was informed that a company was using one of my fan art of an existing copyrighted character on clothing for sale without permission. I didn’t allow them to use my fan art for their design work. I didn’t allow them to use my fan art as a commodity.
(continued)– (@m_qurokawa) August 10, 2019
(continuation of the previous tweet)
My fan art is copyrighted fan art of an existing character. Copyright belongs to the original owner.
Unauthorized goods are not permitted.
It looks like the promotional tweet has already been deleted and the merchandise has been removed from the online store.– é»’ æ²³ 真 ç´ (@m_qurokawa) August 10, 2019
Before Siberia Hills admitted to using the artwork without permission, many people denounced the blunder.
billie eilish’s new product line was created by art theft 💀
they used sexy nozomi tojo love live art in order to make billie eilish merch. That’s a shame
– nemui (@nemukuteh) August 8, 2019
Billie Eilish took out some merch because she recolored Nozomi’s merch from lovelive and it makes me super happy lol it’s not her fault just an unfortunate situation to trust the wrong people
– Sick of your bad attitude Nico (@Niiveon) Aug 12, 2019
All mentions of the collaboration were cleared from Billie’s social media accounts, although she did not specifically address the artistic error.
Siberia Hills also promised refunds for those who ordered items from the capsule collection.
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