House of Zana store owner celebrates his brand's win over Zara

A boutique owner who took on the world's largest fashion retailer and won urges other independent stores to stand up to big business.
Amber Kotrri, owns House of Zana, which trades online and from a single concept store in Darlington, County Durham. It specializes in handmade kimonos.
Inditex is a Spanish conglomerate with global sales of several billion pounds and brands such as Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Zara .
Kotrri said about two years ago that she received a notice opposing her attempt to trademark her trade name. It was followed by a letter from a lawyer suggesting that the name of her store sounded too much like Zara and people might be confused.
She was given three months to stop using it and his first thought was to comply. "I mean, how do you fight something like that?"
Then she started going through all the implications of doing that - including removing all the tags from her handmade clothes - and she started getting angry.
"I just couldn't imagine signing that letter," she said . "I didn't see any similarity and no customer has ever seen a similarity, so I decided I was going to fight it. I thought I could easily vouch for that because I believe in my brand so much.
She shared her story on social media and it emboldened her even more. "It was so much easier to go to court," he said. she said "I felt like I had everyone behind me, people were saying 'this is ridiculous'."
Zana in Albanian folklore is a protective fairy figure."In northern Albania, where my husband is from, Zana also translates to giving people a voice," said Kotrri, 28.
She dug in and after a year of both sides, the case went to court at the Intellectual Property Office. This month, Judge Williams, in a lengthy judgment, ruled in his favour.
On Tuesday, Kotrri was to host a party in Darlington Town Square, including a fashion show, makeup, entertainment and food.
She said she hoped to send a message. "It was a win for me and my business, but it's also for other freelancers going through this. It shows you can stand up to big business."
Fashion Sep 1, 2022 0 67 Add to Reading List

A boutique owner who took on the world's largest fashion retailer and won urges other independent stores to stand up to big business.

Amber Kotrri, owns House of Zana, which trades online and from a single concept store in Darlington, County Durham. It specializes in handmade kimonos.

Inditex is a Spanish conglomerate with global sales of several billion pounds and brands such as Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Zara .

Kotrri said about two years ago that she received a notice opposing her attempt to trademark her trade name. It was followed by a letter from a lawyer suggesting that the name of her store sounded too much like Zara and people might be confused.

She was given three months to stop using it and his first thought was to comply. "I mean, how do you fight something like that?"

Then she started going through all the implications of doing that - including removing all the tags from her handmade clothes - and she started getting angry.

"I just couldn't imagine signing that letter," she said . "I didn't see any similarity and no customer has ever seen a similarity, so I decided I was going to fight it. I thought I could easily vouch for that because I believe in my brand so much.

She shared her story on social media and it emboldened her even more. "It was so much easier to go to court," he said. she said "I felt like I had everyone behind me, people were saying 'this is ridiculous'."

Zana in Albanian folklore is a protective fairy figure."In northern Albania, where my husband is from, Zana also translates to giving people a voice," said Kotrri, 28.

She dug in and after a year of both sides, the case went to court at the Intellectual Property Office. This month, Judge Williams, in a lengthy judgment, ruled in his favour.

On Tuesday, Kotrri was to host a party in Darlington Town Square, including a fashion show, makeup, entertainment and food.

She said she hoped to send a message. "It was a win for me and my business, but it's also for other freelancers going through this. It shows you can stand up to big business."