Bessie Joseph was not expecting a friend’s text to become the most commercially successful moment of her career. 

Joseph is the founder of Khaos, an independent fashion label, and the message she received contained a link to a skirt sold by Universal Store that looked strikingly similar to one of her own designs. 

While her signature Billie skirt retailed for $160, the bigger retailer’s apparent dupe was selling for just $90. 

Yet rather than letting the alleged copycat moment become a costly and dispiriting fight, the Melbourne founder turned it into a sales strategy. 

Joseph cut her price of her original to match the Universal Store’s item, then publicly invited her ASX-listed rival to respond, turning an online callout into a campaign to buy the original.

Turning outrage into demand

Talking to Inside Retail, Joseph said her initial reaction to seeing the product was disbelief rather than devastation. “I was kind of obviously a bit flattered,” Joseph said. “My designs must be really good if I’m getting copied.”

She posted about it a few hours later, anticipating that the familiar social media narrative of a major retailer allegedly copying an independent designer might travel online. Still, Joseph says she did not expect the scale of attention that followed, including mainstream media coverage and a spike in engagement across her own channels.

“I probably seemed more angry online than I am in real life,” she shared. “It was more of a marketing technique, I know most of those posts do really well online and I didn’t really think anything would come from it.”

Joseph has not positioned herself solely as a wronged founder. She positioned herself as a nimble operator who understands attention as a business asset, particularly when independent brands rarely have the advertising budgets or reach of a national retailer.

The campaign’s message was simple. If shoppers could buy a lower priced version elsewhere, Khaos would temporarily remove price as the deciding factor and give them the option to purchase directly from the original designer.

The price matching play

Joseph credits US designer Danielle Guizio with inspiring the approach. After hearing about Guizio’s use of a price matching promotion in response to cheaper versions of a sought after micro mini skirt, Joseph saw a framework for moving beyond frustration.

For Khaos, that meant lowering the Billie skirt to $90. The move was not cost free, but Joseph says the brand’s lean structure made it possible. “My margins are pretty good because I don’t have any staff. It’s just me. I don’t have any ads. I don’t have any marketing budget,” she said. “At the moment I can afford to do it, but in the future I don’t know if I could.”

However, the ability to meet a larger retailer’s price is not a universal solution for small businesses. Many independent brands operate with tighter production runs, higher unit costs and less purchasing power. Joseph says another founder who had experienced a similar situation told her the tactic was simply not financially viable.

Still, in Khaos’ case, the price match created a clear consumer choice between the mass retail alternative and the independent label behind the design. Joseph believes shoppers respond strongly to that proposition. “People want the real thing. They never want the dupes,” she stated. “So if they have the option to choose out of both things, no one wants the fake version.”

The commercial upside

The results arrived before broadcast coverage amplified her story. “Those four days before going on the news were the best four days of business I’ve had since launching Khaos,” she said.

The attention has also broadened the brand’s audience. Joseph says her content began reaching people who had not previously encountered Khaos, while a wave of preorders suggested that public support translated into direct purchase intent. In a fashion market where social reach can be ephemeral, the campaign gave Khaos both visibility and a concrete reason for consumers to transact almost immediately.

The campaign also underscored the unusual power imbalance that independent fashion businesses face. Joseph revealed she sent Universal Store a cease and desist, as well as messages via email, Instagram and TikTok, but had received no reply at the time of interview. She acknowledged the limits of the legal position around a garment design and said she did not expect a response. “There’s nothing legal, they don’t have to do anything,” Joseph said. “I haven’t got a patent. It’s a clothing item, so it’s really hard to get copyrighted.” 

What began as an alleged instance of fashion copying has become a case study in founder-led brand building. Joseph did not have the resources to outspend a listed retailer, nor a straightforward legal pathway to compel a response. Instead, she deployed speed, personality, transparency and a sharp commercial offer.

“It’s not a shit situation anymore,” she concluded. “It’s been the best thing ever.”