Commission designing

I

Imtom

New Member
I designed a logo for a client almost a year ago for his tshirt business. Since doing this I didn't think the logo would be used on the tshirt for anything other then a label. But it seems the logo is printed right across the front of these basic tshirt and is the main selling point, think hype clothing.
The clients asked me to change the colour of the logo a few times or tweak it to which he has paid me for but then he's gone and put this on tshirt a to sell.
He's paid me for the logo but he's putting the logo on tshirt sand passing it off as his own tshirt design range. Basically he's buying tshirt a from a wholesale and slapping my logo on and making a profit.
He's now asked me to design a pattern spot go behind the logo and I can't help but feel that he's going to pay me £20 for this small amendment and then make a killing in profit selling it. I'm at a loss as to what to do and need some advice.
 
Carolyn Davidson created the "Nike swoosh" logo for £75...

If you think you deserve more pay for the design "revamp" then suggest it to them.

Most importantly... always have a contract... always always always!

Essentially it is his t-shirt design, he concepted the idea, hired a designer to complete the work and paid for it.


Consider uppping your fee.


But without a contract you're high and dry. Consider working with them and ask for a percentage on the sale of goods with the logo to compensate...

It's not ideal but could work.
 
Sorry, I'm going to be a bit more harsh. Think about the people who work for organisations and invent a world beating product which goes on to sell billions worldwide, you are no alone it's just business. Also who is to say that this person wouldn't have done just as well with a different designer and logo? A logo is a tiny part of it and he will believe that the money has been made because of his clever marketing/targeting of the brand and good routes to market (right outlets, good website etc.) and I'd be inclined to agree. Think about a brand like Superdry and ask yourself is it the logo that makes the brand or is it the marketing?
 
That's basically what I said - it's his idea of a t-shirt design.

But you know what - look at the Facebook scenario, Mark Zuckerberg allegedly stole someone else's idea - but they didn't have a contract and it's too hard to prove, as it's just good code at the end of the day.
 
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To be fair, I'm struggling to think of a single clothing brand that doesn't sell a standard range of t-shirts with their logo printed on the front and, in that sense/in this context, I don't really see the difference between designing the label and the label being used as the design. Mind you, whenever I've designed logos, it's always been on the understanding that the client pays for the work, owns the rights, and - as something intrinsic to their brand identity - they can use it in any way they see fit.
 
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