Hello All, I’m about to enter into a design agreement with a large US
handbag company, and I was hoping someone in Orchidland had some
insight for me. I need advise on compensation as it relates to this
project. This is the first time that this company has gone outside
their firm to collaborate with a designer. They manufacture all the
hardware and assemble their bags in-house.
Currently, the bags will be sold e-commerce only on their site with
discussions of opening their own retail stores. They have a large
PR firm and an impressive website. This project has the potential to
expose my work to a huge market with their ability to promote the
designs and my name. Their focus is to get the work on celebrities
and in all the fashion magazines.
This company is interested in 3 of my existing amulet designs. I
will work with them to size the amulets to the handbag, if needed,
and I will deliver the finished piece for them to assemble to their
handbags. I will be required to stock the amulets and
They also stated that they will “somehow” use my name on the bags
for design credit as it relates to the amulets. They also offered
to link my jewelry website from their website. I agreed to give
them a percentage of the jewelry pieces sold from this link.
One catch, I left them with some of my handbag drawings with the
amulets. This week I get the prototypes, and based on discussions,
I have a suspicion that they incorporated my designs (partial or
whole) into the bag designs. Once I receive the bags, I will
present them with a formal designer/client agreement with my
requirements. I will not continue designing without an agreement.
I have already spoken to them about compensation at an hourly wage
for the conceptual/engineering stage of the handbags with my
amulets. I then requested a percentage of the bags sold. They
agreed that the hourly wage was fair, yet they stated that they only
want to pay me for the amulets as the bags were sold.
If the handbags are in fact my designs, should I require a
percentage of sales and what is a fair percentage? Or, should I ask
for a flat fee for each bag design? My concern with this is that
they could use the bag designs for years with other amulets. Does
someone have an agreement for this project scope that they would be
willing to share? Any advise or insight is greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Reba.