In 2015, I felt the need to write about knockoffs. My point of view was simple – stay true to your brand, uphold your mission, innovate often and know your customers’ needs at every turn. These were my hacks to stay one (or maybe three) steps ahead of the people and companies who believe they have the right to ride the coattails of another brand’s success. Times have changed over the last four years though and so have my views. Now I know this approach is only one piece of the puzzle. As this piece from Medium’s Stephanie Clifford highlights, S’well has had to partner with legal teams, Custom Border Patrol, vendors and retailers to fight the fakes. And even when we win, we lose...because the system is broken. There are too many people stealing from original brands’ playbooks with the world of copycats having grown too big and consumers at large too dependent on quick delivery at the cheapest price – losing sight or simply not knowing what is real and what is fake anymore. Forever the optimist, I believe that along with legal and government support, we need to create a cultural shift in behavior. And we need to do this in solidarity with eachother – big retailers coming together with entrepreneurs and consumers to find a way to collaborate and educate for change. Who’s with me? …see more