Nasty Gal Engages In Some Super-Nasty Instagram Bickering

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Grid View

Expand

• Nasty Gal Instagrammed this photo of the bracelet around 5pm PT yesterday.
• An hour later, Etsy-based crafter Megan of Saylor Rose re-Instagrammed it with comments.
• Soon after, Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso Instagrammed this screengrab of the comments on the Saylor Rose pic
• And left these comments on the image...

Don't mess with Nasty Gal's Sophia Amoruso, or for that matter, Etsy seller Saylor Rose. Last night, the two women tangled very publicly on Instagram over a Nasty Gal bracelet that's almost identical to a design sold on the Saylor Rose Etsy boutique.

Nasty Gal 'grammed a photo of the bangle, above, with the caption "represent" and a link to buy it online for $15. An hour later, Saylor Rose re-'grammed their image, saying, "Dear @nastygal, thanks for coping [sic] me. You can go fuck yourselves." Amoruso responded in the comments, "We are pulling it from the site. Forgive us for never having heard of you and give me a break for having done so. There are better ways of eliciting a response from us and it starts with being polite. Congrats, you've been knocked off. It's a rite of passage."

That wasn't the end of it, though. Amoruso then posted a screengrab of the back and forth, commenting, "Great promotion for whatsherface. No way we knew that a goofy charm bracelet was invented by miss @saylorrose. By the way, when we know something is a knock off, we act. No way to pay attention to every single mom of an Etsy scrapbooker out there."

The rest of the comments are divided between unwavering support for Amoruso and Nasty Gal, and 'grammers sticking up Saylor Rose aka the little guy. A sample pro NG response, "No reason to get whiney about it either. Honestly I saw something similar at the Rose Bowl flea market a couple years ago."

Meanwhile, Instagram user Andy Rosenthal of Assembled argues that people are "missing the point. There is a job at NastyGal, TopShop etc where a person gets paid to comb the Internet, source styles, and duplicate them. As simple as this was, a charm bracelet, they couldn't even assemble one that was slightly different. Urban does this, AF does this, mod cloth does this. And the little guy never gets play, and rarely fights back. I'm for the underdog."

Ironically, Nasty Gal was recently on the other side of this argument when Forever 21 came out with a magazine that more than resembled NG's Super Nasty. At the time, Amoruso Tweeted that it felt "like highway robbery." Thoughts on this latest blowup, anyone?
· Vintage California Bracelet [Saylor Rose/Etsy]
· Cali Girl Bracelet [Nasty Gal]
· Did Forever 21 Blatantly Rip Off Nasty Gal's Magazine? [Racked]
· Does This Urban Outfitters Necklace Look Like TOMTOM Jewelry? [Racked]
· 5 Things We Learned From Sophia Amoruso's ITG Feature [Racked]