Comments on: Non-disclosure agreements

By: 5 Questions all designers must answer

5 Questions all designers must answer — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:31:46 +0000

[...] People, do not, I repeat, do not ever call anyone, ever, if you can’t answer these five questions -without requiring a non-disclosure agreement: [...]

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:39:54 +0000

See this post I wrote on how to find clothing manufacturers.

By: Kennedy

Kennedy — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 04:19:34 +0000

Hello,

I am looking for a bra manufacturer and was wondering if you could provide me any. I would greatly appreciate any assistance you can provide.

Thank you

By: Fashion Incubator » Advice to sewing contractors pt.2

Fashion Incubator » Advice to sewing contractors pt.2 — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 14:03:41 +0000

[...] -Non-disclosure agreements As I have said many times, it is generally recommended that you don’t sign an NDA because they [...]

By: Fashion Incubator » 2 of 2: IP and contractors

Fashion Incubator » 2 of 2: IP and contractors — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:14:12 +0000

[...] person sign instruments or contracts regarding the protection of your ideas and concepts. As I have said many times, many contractors or service providers are going to be ticked off if you ask [...]

By: Fashion Incubator » Non disclosure agreements, myths and patents

Fashion Incubator » Non disclosure agreements, myths and patents — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:13:14 +0000

[...] Posted by Kathleen Fasanella on Oct 4, 2006 at 2:47 pm / Intellectual Property / Trackback [...]

By: Diane S.

Diane S. — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:37:49 +0000

I tell them that my Attorney has advised me not to sign NDA’s (true!). If they require one I thank them for their time and tell them I am unable to work for them. One thing I have learned over time is to *not* be desperate for work. If you think someone is going to be difficult to work for, they probally are and it is not worth it!

By: Al

Al — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:54:32 +0000

I can understand what this article is getting at but my present manufacturer will not sign a disclosure agreement which has led to a number of my ideas and whole designs being copied.
I’ve also experienced other manufacturers touting for business, emailing me pictures and sending samples of products they’ve made for other companies under contract(with the labels removed). They have also been willing to copy those designs.
We have begun working with a new manufacturer and this is an issue for us, we don’t want to sound insulting but at the same time we want to protect our designs, since it’s taken us a lot of time, money and effort to develop our designs.

By: Angi

Angi — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:34:13 +0000

How do you tactfully say no to signing a non-disclosure agreement? I am a new to the fashion world patternmaker/sewing contractor. (came over from the world of theatre and costume design). I have had quite a few people now ask me to sign them. What do I say?

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Sat, 05 May 2007 15:27:43 +0000

The other thing is, creativity arises through competence. The more competent one is, the more creative. Iow, the more competent pattern maker, contractor et al, -as opposed to the less competent idea generator seeking a service provider- the more likely we are to have a plethora of wonderful ideas such that we can’t pick through them, assuming we even wanted to run the gauntlet of launching a product.

Secondly, to a man (or woman), people seeking NDAs typically have ONE idea. One product. Service providers make nothing on onsies. We’re looking for clients who are creative enough to come up with several ideas from which we derive revenue for our services. With one idea, one has little to negotiate with so it’s an easy decision for us to make. It is easy to say no, saving one’s self a lot of grief over a client who won’t generate any revenue anyway. It’s so laugh out loud funny that they think they have enough pull to call the shots in establishing the relationship.

To this day, people who land on this site, will call me up asking for all kinds of advice (and referrals -who haven’t bought my book) won’t tell me their product unless I sign an NDA. Imagine that. I’m supposed to fall over in gratitude, to give them a list of people who can help them -for free- when they won’t even tell me enough information to know who I should send them to in the first place (as if I would). I can only guess they think this site is all a front, that my real purpose is to siphon off the marvelous ideas of visitors to that list of contractors and pattern makers I keep at my elbow, cackling and rubbing my hands together with glee as I hang up the phone, to auction off their concepts to the highest bidder. Oh yeah. That’s really how I make a living. As if I had the time. That just goes to show how amateur a paranoid inventor is.

Usually, the idea isn’t even original, so old that the patent on it expired back in the 80′s (that happened just this week) but the person is so out of the loop or such a poor shopper they don’t know the product already exists in spades. Once the person figures out their idea isn’t new, then they come back making nice but they’ll never be able to regain credibility with me after failing to trust me. I will always be wary and that’s because if I have learned one thing in this business, it is that people who won’t or can’t trust you, shouldn’t be trusted themselves. If someone can’t trust me, it tells me more about their character and integrity than they should want anyone to know.