Texas Designer Goes Viral In The Fight Against Internet Knock-Offs

Imagine: you've spent years of hard work and dedication to perfect your craft. Finally, your creative vision shines bright, and all the late nights, disappointments, and stress have finally paid off. And then... you get ripped off. Completely, unabashedly ripped off.

That's what happened to Cheeky's Boutique, a Texas-based creator specializing in affordable Western apparel, jewelry, leather goods, and more. They also have these leather cow skull earrings I'm obsessed with. Truly, everything is bigger in Texas including my taste in jewelry:

In a now viral post, Cheeky's proprietor Jessica Dawn Roberts details her experience with her design getting ripped off by the internet seller Temu. In addition to stealing her design, they even used her shop photo. Her experience will soon be the subject of a Time magazine article, which I am intrigued to read.

Full disclosure: I have never bought anything from Temu, Shein, or the like and I probably never will, so I cannot personally speak to the experience. I have made this decision based on several ethical concerns, not only for the blatant intellectual theft we see here but also because I have heard of poor working conditions for the employees of this company, including accusations of forced labor.

Additionally, I do not trust the quality of the items and have heard horror stories of people experiencing fraudulent charges after shopping on Temu. Of course, since I have never shopped on Temu I could have it all wrong, but I doubt it.

Roberts brings up another great point about buying her design cheaper on Temu: her earrings do not include many common allergens like nickel, and it's entirely possible that a cheaply made Temu earring will. Remember being a kid and wearing a ring that turns your finger green? Imagine being an adult with green earlobes that advertise you cheaped out.

It is my sincere hope that Robert's viral post sheds light on this issue for many and that she also sees a well-deserved bump in sales. I still can't get over how cute and how Texan those earrings are.