Indian fashion label accused of plagiarizing British animator’s design

A London-based animation artist has accused an Indian fashion label of copying her design for a pair of novelty boots, setting off a public dispute over creative ownership that has drawn widespread attention on social media.

Jocie Juritz, a professional animator, posted a video on Instagram last week alleging that Theatre.xyz, a fashion brand based in India, had replicated her illustrated boot design without permission or credit. According to Juritz, her followers first alerted her to the issue after Theatre.xyz unveiled its “Jiji” boots — priced at more than 3,000 rupees — which she said were nearly identical to her own artwork.

“Another shoe brand ripped off my design,” Juritz said in her video, showing her original illustration alongside Theatre’s product. “(There was) not even a slight attempt at changing it. Very direct. The weirdest thing of all was that they did this animation about the conception of the idea of the shoe, which is weird because I'm a professional animator.”

In a twist unusual for a design dispute, Juritz went on to critique Theatre’s promotional animation, offering a frame-by-frame breakdown and suggestions on how it could have been improved. The video quickly went viral, prompting a public response from Theatre’s co-founder and creative director, Shruti Aggarwal.

“Dear Jocie, My name is Shruti, and I am the creative director of Theater. I just wanted to deeply apologise for this,” Aggarwal wrote in a reply shared on social media. “The day has been traumatic, and the sad part is that I know we deserve it. I remember how this happened, I saw this design online, thought to myself that this is the cutest retro design and just sent it to the team to sample. I know one thing led to another, and it just all happened as a process after. I really did not intend for it to be like this.”

Aggarwal added that the company had sold only two pairs of the boots and said she would “take time off this business and re-evaluate choices.” She also promised reforms, noting that “the team is looking at all internal processes to make sure something like this does not happen again.”

The dispute widened further after another artist — an animator who identified herself as Pronali and posts under the name @eternal.shade — stepped forward to clarify her role in creating Theatre’s promotional video.

“First of all, thank you for the tutorial, as a self-taught 2D animator, it did help me with some of the personal problems I was having with animation,” she wrote in response to Juritz. She added that she, too, had suspected the design was copied. “I did bring the issue to the higher-ups when they got the design from the manufacturers, but it wasn't taken seriously… I'm sorry for disrespecting you through plagiarism… Also to some people saying it's AI, it's not, it's all hand-drawn and voice-acted by myself with stock sounds.”

Despite the apologies, social media users criticized Theatre for what some described as a lack of accountability.

“Products don’t just manifest into existence after sending them as a reference. You planned an entire marketing campaign behind this product… do better,” one user wrote in a comment directed at Aggarwal. Another added, “If you are the creative director, why do you sound so powerless to stop plagiarism in the company you work for?”

Juritz, for her part, responded with a conciliatory tone.

“Hey Shruti, thanks for apologising. I really appreciate hearing from you. Honestly, if this situation led to no more copied designs from Theater, I would be so happy… Perhaps this can be a nice turning point,” she wrote.

She also thanked her followers for rallying behind her. “It was weird and upsetting having my design plagiarised, but it made me feel so supported knowing lots of lovely people were willing to say something. THANK YOU to those who got in touch!!! And an enormous thank you too, to the law firm who sorted everything out!!!”

Whether the episode serves as a cautionary tale or simply another flare-up in the ongoing debate over online inspiration versus imitation remains to be seen. For now, at least, one artist is hoping the incident will lead to better industry practices — and better animations.