Upcycling has become one of fashion's favorite words. It sounds virtuous, sustainable, and creative. Rework something old into something new, and you keep it out of landfill while making a fresh design statement. But over a little more than a year, courts in China, South Korea, and France have all been asked the same underlying question. Does taking apart a genuine luxury item and turning it into something else give you the right to keep using the original brand's name, its marks, and in some cases the copyright attached to it? Four separate rulings across three countries now answer that question, drawing a clearer line than many upcyclers expected.
Let's sail from east to west, port by port, and see what each case says.
