This is a review of the book Fashion and Intellectual Property (Cambridge University Press, 2025), edited by David Tan, National University of Singapore, Jeanne Fromer, New York University, and Dev Gangjee, University of Oxford.

Readers approaching Fashion and Intellectual Property should be prepared for the impressive density of fashion references and pop-cultural material that animate this volume. Far from relying on abstract examples, the book immerses the reader in fashion as it is lived, consumed and circulated, moving across luxury houses, mass-market designs, knock-offs, upcycled pieces and even military and camouflage garments. Clothing is treated not as a monolithic category but as a diverse set of objects shaped by different creative, functional and symbolic imperatives, making fashion a particularly revealing site for examining how intellectual property law regulates creativity, function, identity and value.

Contents

Part I establishes the theoretical foundations of the volume by situating fashion within broader cultural and socio-economic developments. David Tan frames contemporary fashion as a manifestation of a post-postmodern condition characterised by fragmentation, self-reference, technological mediation and heightened sensitivity to environmental and geopolitical instability. Practices such as upcycling, remixing and hybrid physical-digital experiences are analysed as cultural responses to these conditions, raising questions about how intellectual property law can meaningfully engage with creativity in an era defined by acceleration and reuse.

Barton Beebe complements this perspective by examining luxury fashion through the lens of post-scarcity, showing how intellectual property law continues to function as a mechanism for constructing symbolic scarcity and preserving social distinction despite material abundance. Together, these chapters frame fashion as a cultural system in which creativity, status and meaning are inseparable.

Part II forms the doctrinal core of the book and examines how established intellectual property regimes operate when applied to fashion. Christopher Buccafusco and Jeanne C. Fromer offer a detailed analysis of functionality in fashion, arguing that garments are functional not only in a mechanical sense but also in how they shape the perception of the body. Examples ranging from optical-illusion designs to body-enhancing garments, including military and camouflage-inspired clothing, illustrate how fashion collapses the traditional distinction between aesthetic expression and utilitarian function, with important implications for copyright, trademark and design law. Vicki Huang’s empirical study of shape trademarks in the Australian footwear market demonstrates how cultural shifts, particularly the elevation of sneakers from sportswear to fashion, have driven increased reliance on trademark protection where design rights prove inadequate. Susanna H. S. Leong and Irene Calboli further interrogate the limits of trademark law through their analysis of non-traditional trademarks, highlighting both the difficulties of establishing distinctiveness and the risks of over-protection. Roger Allan Ford examines the fashion industry’s growing yet uneasy engagement with utility patents, while Robert Burrell and Emily Hudson conclude the section by analysing structural and post-Brexit barriers to enforcing design rights in the United Kingdom.

Part III turns to contemporary fashion practices operating at the margins of traditional IP protection. Martin Senftleben’s chapter on fashion upcycling explores the tension between trademark enforcement and sustainable creative practices, analysing how the reuse of branded materials may trigger infringement claims while also serving broader policy objectives such as environmental sustainability and artistic freedom. Jyh-An Lee and Jingwen Liu examine shanzhai fashion in China, distinguishing between counterfeits and knock-offs and showing how unfair competition law has increasingly been used to protect fashion designs where trademark and copyright protection fall short. Their analysis illustrates how national legal systems adapt existing doctrines to address protection gaps, further underscoring the fragmented nature of global fashion IP regulation.

Part IV addresses forward-looking questions concerning sustainability, cultural heritage and global regulation. Dev S. Gangjee explores the potential of geographical indications for textiles as a means of protecting traditional craftsmanship while aligning with sustainable production models, while also acknowledging the limits of IP law in securing long-term environmental commitments. In the concluding chapter, Kal Raustiala and Christopher Jon Sprigman examine cultural appropriation in the global fashion industry, critically assessing claims of ownership over cultural designs and questioning the feasibility of exclusive property rights in light of the transnational and historically layered circulation of fashion motifs.

Final Thoughts

Taken as a whole, the volume offers an experience that is as visual and immersive as it is analytical. The extensive use of images, examples and concrete design references gives the book the feel of a curated museum visit, where each item comes with an expert audio guide explaining its legal, cultural and creative significance, while shedding light on aspects of the creative process that are often overlooked when the story of an iconic design is told. If anything, the richness of detail and visual material makes it difficult for this Kat to close the book without feeling tempted to step outside and do a bit (or perhaps a lot) of shopping.

Details

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Extent: 384 pages

Format: Hardback and eBook

ISBN: 9781009519618

[Book Review] Fashion and Intellectual Property Reviewed by Wissam Bentazar on Sunday, January 11, 2026 Rating: 5