Chapter 1789: The Illegal Copying of Designs
After Wen Xinya and Grandpa had discussed it through, they decided to have her resign from her role as the acting Chairman, while he once again stepped up to the helm of the Wen Corporation.
Wen Xinya thought that with Grandpa holding the fort at the company, Xia Ruya would hold off her plans to stir up the core management. However, the thing she was most afraid of still happened.
And when the issues started cropping up, it was her most trusted Gu Yihan who was implicated.
Gu Yihan had joined the Wen Corporation right after graduating from university. At that point in time, the country was swept by the Korean wave and quirky designs were trending. As a result, Gu Yihan’s demure and elegant designs were not popular.
However, Grandpa greatly admired Gu Yihan’s talent and held her in high esteem. He had poured in a lot of efforts to groom her, and Gu Yihan went from being a newbie to a designer who was able to compete in major fas.h.i.+on design compet.i.tions in Paris. Although her innate talent played a part, it was also largely thanks to the support of the Wen Corporation that she was able to ascend so quickly.
It could be said that Gu Yihan was a product of the Wen Corporation.
Meanwhile, because of Gu Yihan’s wide acclaim, Wen Corporation’s clothing line had become the most successful department, accounting for nearly half of the company’s total sales.
Gu Yihan had thus become one of the Wen Corporation’s main pillars.
All these years, Wen Xinya had become very close to Gu Yihan as she studied fas.h.i.+on design under her. She greatly admired Gu Yihan’s talents and respected her a lot as a teacher. They had become fast friends as well.
On the second day after the Wen Corporation announced their winter designs, Rosy Lane accepted a media interview, chastising Gu Yihan for illegally copying her designs.
“I was just a new designer and I very much admired Teacher Gu’s talents, which was why I went to great lengths to join the Wen Corporation’s fas.h.i.+on design department. I never expected this teacher, whom I respected so much, to steal my designs.”
A young lady in her mid-twenties appeared on television wearing a black business suit, bitterly narrating to a large crowd of reporters on how Gu Yihan had stolen her works.
Wen Xinya knew this young woman.
Her name was Lu Bingxin. She had indeed once worked in the fas.h.i.+on design department of the Wen Corporation and had earned the trust of Teacher Gu. However, a few months ago, she had suddenly resigned due to family issues.
She never expected this person to have jumped over to Rosy Lane.
Lu Bingxin’s allegations were not very convincing and the reporters asked, “What proof do you have that the Wen Corporation’s head designer illegally copied your designs?”
Gu Yihan was a world-renowned fas.h.i.+on designer who had won the Paris Vogue International Fas.h.i.+on Design compet.i.tion multiple times. Her talent was publicly-validated.
Meanwhile, Lu Bingxin was just an unknown newbie. No one believed her allegations even though she had the support of Rosy Lane.
At this point, the Li Corporation’s Rosy Lane public relations manager standing beside Lu Bingxin spoke up. “Miss Lu left the Wen Corporation because of family issues, and then joined Rosy Lane thereafter. The company holds her in high regard due to her extraordinary design talents. Five days ago, Miss Lu’s newest designs were launched at Li Corporation’s flags.h.i.+p store. Will everyone please take a look at the screen.”
Li Corporation’s flags.h.i.+p store in Harbor City flashed on the large screen. It showed a set of clothing which looked nearly identical to the designs which the Wen Corporation had just released yesterday.
There was no need to explain further. The proof was right there staring at them in the face.
The same design, the same flavor, the same style. And the Li Corporation launched their designs earlier than the Wen Corporation. It was as good as Gu Yihan admitting to copying Lu Bingxin’s designs.
However, the reporters were still dubious over those claims. “I heard that Miss Lu used to work in the fas.h.i.+on design department of the Wen Corporation and was highly regarded by Teacher Gu. Then it is very possible she could have seen Teacher Gu’s designs before. And now Rosy Lane is backing Miss Lu in her allegations. This is all too arbitrary!”
The reporters were disbelieving of Lu Bingxin’s claims. They were more willing to believe that Lu Bingxin was the one who had copied Gu Yihan’s work.
After all, Gu Yihan was a famous queen within the Country Z’s fas.h.i.+on circles. Why would she need to illegally copy the designs of someone else?
Even if Lu Bingxin’s designs were really very good and Gu Yihan gained inspiration from them, she was not that much of a fool to illegally copy the works of others. With Gu Yihan’s talents, it would have been easy for her to gain inspiration elsewhere and come up with something even better.
Lu Bingxin grew agitated after hearing the reporter’s words. “I didn’t copy Teacher Gu’s designs. I didn’t…”
However, she had been deemed an inconsequential person and the reporters completely ignored her.
Instead, the reporters were more interested in Rosy Lane.
After all, the Li Corporation’s Rosy Lane breaking into the China market was an obvious challenge to the Wen Corporation’s hold over the luxury brands market there. Rosy Lane’s att.i.tude was a clear indication on what they intended for the Wen Corporation.
Rosy Lane’s public relations manager said, “It has only been five years since Rosy Lane broke into the Chinese market, and we are of course not as acclaimed as some of the more established brands here. However, we believe in every single one of our designers, and we are willing to stand up and seek justice for them when they meet with unfairness or mistreatment.”
Her words had been carefully chosen and all the reporters at present knew exactly what she meant.
More established brands—she was obviously referring to the Wen Corporation.
She was hinting that the Wen Corporation was using its influence in China to suppress Rosy Lane.
Lu Bingxin, who had been keeping silent this whole time, suddenly faced the cameras and starting sobbing. “Please believe me. Teacher Gu really pirated my designs. I am not lying, I really am not…”
Rosy Lane’s public relations manager handed her a handkerchief. “Don’t cry. I believe justice prevails in the hearts of all.”
The show put up by the two of them, plus the photographic evidence on the screen, made for quite a convincing argument.
However, the reporters still didn’t entirely believe their claims. Who didn’t know that in business, compet.i.tors would deign to use all sorts of little tricks to gain an upper hand.
Otherwise, why had Rosy Lane accepted Lu Bingxin, who had just resigned from the Wen Corporation? No one would believe that Rosy Lane didn’t already have something in mind when they hired Lu Bingxin.
Nevertheless, reporters were not overly-bothered by something as ba.n.a.l as the truth.
All they cared about was the level of newsworthy drama that this compet.i.tion between the Wen Corporation and the Li Corporation would bring.
They were not concerned at all over whether Gu Yihan was innocent or not.
To them, the more sensational headlines they could write about Gu Yihan, the more papers they could sell.