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Boutique Chat

Five Minute Friday: Stop Selling Dupes - The Truth About Trademark Infringement in Boutiques

Boutique Chat

Ashley Alderson

Business, Marketing, Retail, Boutiquetips, Fashionindustry, Fashionbusiness, Entrepreneurship, Businessstrategy

5853 Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Too many boutique owners risk their entire business without realizing it — by selling dupes, knockoffs, or unlicensed products. The consequences can be devastating, from confiscated inventory to losing everything they’ve worked so hard to build.

In this episode of Five Minute Friday, Ashley Alderson shares the truth about trademark infringement and licensing agreements. Drawing from real-life examples in the retail industry, Ashley explains what every boutique owner needs to know to stay protected.

Key takeaways from this episode:

  • Why selling dupes is illegal, even if it seems harmless

  • Common examples: NFL, Disney, Louis Vuitton, Starbucks, and more

  • How licensing agreements work and what to look for as a retailer

  • Practical steps to avoid costly legal mistakes

Boutique owners put their heart and soul into building their brands. This episode is a timely reminder of how to protect that investment and avoid mistakes that could shut a business down overnight.

Stay connected with Ashley and The Boutique Hub:
Instagram: @ajalderson (Follow Ashley on Instagram) | @theboutiquehub
Learn more: Join The Boutique Hub Community

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

So I recently shared a post on my own personal Facebook page, and it was actually a share of a news article of a woman being arrested for selling unlicensed goods and dupes of fashion, like popular fashion brands, high-end brands.

0:17.8

And I was so sad to share it because honestly, I think I've shared something similar

0:23.5

year over year over year for the past. I don't know, however many years I've been in business

0:27.5

because I see this type of thing continue to happen. So today on five minute Friday, I just

0:33.3

wanted to jump in and have an honest conversation with you and remind you if you don't already know, there's no excuse not to know, I'm going to be the one who breaks it to you today,

0:41.1

but there are serious consequences to not understanding licensing agreements and trademark infringements

0:50.1

and selling or promoting products that aren't yours to sell or promote in the first place.

0:56.5

So here's where I want to go with this.

0:59.0

You have worked so hard.

1:00.7

You have worked so hard to build your business and to build your brand and to build your

1:04.2

following and to build your e-commerce business and to build your storefront.

1:07.5

You have worked so hard that I do not want to see you lose all of that overnight

1:13.2

with something that could have easily been avoided. So commonly across the industry,

1:19.1

there are people who will sell unlicensed, untrademarked goods to retailers for resale.

1:26.2

And then those retailers get in trouble. The law literally comes

1:29.5

and confiscates all the goods because it's illegal to sell something that is not your license or

1:33.8

trademark. And here's a good example of that. We see it commonly with sports teams. So college

1:39.4

schools, like college teams, a lot of it with the Kansas City Chiefs.

1:44.5

Oh my goodness.

1:45.1

I know all of you Chiefs fans out there.

1:46.8

Love to share your Chief stuff.

1:48.7

But if anything is trademarked, you can't sell it unless you have a license to be selling it.

...

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