Shin: ‘My nail designs were stolen by a Chinese fast fashion company’

A British nail artist claims her designs were stolen by fast fashion giant Sheen.

You may have seen the headlines on some news sites – “Beauty fans fall for £2 Shein press on nails”.

And it’s true, some Chinese company press nails sell for as low as 75p.

But Manchester-based nail designer Yan T was shocked to find the intricate designs on the site.

And she claims the company not only copied her nail art, but even took her Instagram pictures without permission to promote them.

“I thought it was a joke until I clicked on the link,” Yan told BBC Newsbeat.

“And I thought they just copied the design, but they used a picture I took of my client’s hand.”

A spokesperson for Sheen told NewsBeat that it “takes all claims of infringement seriously”.

“Shane respects designers and artists and the intellectual property rights of others,” he said.

“When legal complaints are raised by legitimate IP rights owners, Shein will immediately correct the situation, and carefully remove the product from our site while we investigate.”

Yan’s detailed designs have earned him nearly 80,000 followers on Instagram.

“I created this design for my client based on her personal taste,” says the 28-year-old.

“And I feel really bad to see it literally stolen.”

She paints her designs on clients’ nails, natural or acrylic, herself – but the nails are plastic nails that are applied with glue.

She taught herself from a young age and worked in salons, and typically charged £40 for her designs.

After two of her designs ended up on the site, Shin apologized and removed them both when contacted.

But a day later, one of the pictures reappeared on the site, she said.

“Small artists don’t have the money to take it to court,” says Yan.

“And I think the main part is that copyright laws in China are very flexible compared to copyright laws in the UK, so they can be easily circumvented.”

She said she can understand why people buy nails from the site because of the low cost or not being able to visit Manchester.

But she believes that the fashion giant should approach her to ask if they can sell the design and then pay her.

“I wasn’t mad at the people who bought it because most people didn’t know it was stolen from an artist,” she says.

But after that, I think it’s Shane’s responsibility.

Obviously, the cost of Shain’s nails is significantly less than seeing a nail artist – but as he points out, nails that are pressed in can’t last.

“Printers show up in a day or so, if not an hour.” [and] My clients come back to me every four to six weeks and their nails are still there.

“I painted these designs by hand and sat with them for at least an hour.

“Shane is scanning my design onto a piece of plastic and selling it to someone who wears it for an hour or so.”

“Suppliers must ensure that all of their products do not infringe third-party IP,” Schein said.

“If a breach is confirmed, Shain will take appropriate action. We will continue to invest in improving our processes to detect and prevent breaches,” the spokesperson added.

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