A crochet artist who uses social media to promote her handmade designs has blasted cheap fashion websites and wholesalers that copy her pieces to sell for a fraction of the price. 

Evvia Gonzales, 24, from Norwich, launched Loupy Studio after her handmade crochet designs grew in popularity during lockdown, with made-to-order tops selling for around £140. 

The crochet artist, who learnt the skill from her grandmother, explained that it's difficult to stop fast-fashion brands and wholesalers from 'copying' her designs and even passing off images of her wearing the pieces as their own.

She revealed the shocking extent of the problem to Refinery29, saying: 'I probably get about one DM a week about a different wholesaler on Pinterest that uses my photos with my face visible and their watermark. I've requested that they take it down and every time they do, then repost it.'

Evvia Gonzales, 24, (pictured) from Norwich, claims fast-fashion retailers and wholesalers have been 'copying' her intricate crochet designs

Evvia Gonzales, 24, (pictured) from Norwich, claims fast-fashion retailers and wholesalers have been 'copying' her intricate crochet designs 

Evvia (pictured) said she receives a message almost every week about her designs appearing on websites such as Dolls Kill Dolls Kill have removed their crochet top (pictured) that has a likeness to Evvia's design

Evvia (pictured left) said she receives a message almost every week about her designs appearing on websites such as Dolls Kill (pictured right) 

Evvia said her designs started being 'copied' after she appeared on the Discovery page on social media sites including Pinterest

Evvia said her designs started being 'copied' after she appeared on the Discovery page on social media sites including Pinterest

Evvia, who is also a carer, has had her work appear on the Discovery page of social media sites since creative hobbies became a trend during lockdown.

Inspired by Jean Paul Gaultier and Isa Boulder, Evvia revealed her brown stretchy squares top was the first design to be copied. 

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It's since popped up on the fashion wesbite y2kaesthetic.com, which used a photo from Evvia's Instagram Loupy Studio account to promote a copy of her design, costing $41.72, while another site Emmiol is selling a very similar look for £17.84. 

She explained that 'the crochet pieces are an imitation but have been made by hand. Crochet is impossible to replicate by machine, and it’s very worrying that someone would have spent five hours hand making a top only to be paid a fraction of the retail cost.'

Evvia vented the frustration of having her photos stolen (pictured) by brands claiming to sell her crochet designs

Evvia vented the frustration of having her photos stolen (pictured) by brands claiming to sell her crochet designs 

Evvia (pictured), who learnt crochet from her grandmother, said it's troubling to see crochet being sold in bulk when she knows how long it takes to make one item

Evvia (pictured), who learnt crochet from her grandmother, said it's troubling to see crochet being sold in bulk when she knows how long it takes to make one item 

Evvia (pictured) claims it's difficult for small creators to pursue copyright violations and many fast-fashion websites don't have a legitimate contact

Evvia (pictured) claims it's difficult for small creators to pursue copyright violations and many fast-fashion websites don't have a legitimate contact

The Cambridge graduate said it's unlikely that fast-fashion brands such as Dolls Kill and Emmoil are recreating the design made-to-order.

She said that it 'really hurt' because she will never be able to recreate the top made from secondhand acrylic mohair again.

All her pieces are made using yarn sourced in charity shops or from eBay, and are compleltely unique.

Evvia explained that it's difficult to pursue copyright violations as a small creator, saying: 'You feel like they pulled you into this really tricky, wholesale exploitative situation and you feel like you have to do something. But what am I supposed to do?'

She claims that many websites don't have a legitimate contact that you can speak to about any issues and images taken down from Pinterest are often reposted.

The designer said it's likely people aren't being paid when wholesalers pull an item from their website following a complaint and the bulk made items end up just sitting somewhere. 

She added that it's important to support small creators as there isn't a way of solving the issue of designs being stolen. 

'You can have a design stolen and it's just lost – you have no more control over it forever. But the fact that my face is attached to all of these scammy sellers is another level,' Evvia added. 

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