Vous être créateur freelance et vous avez été missionné pour élaborer des modèles de produits (vêtements, bijoux, accessoires), qui seront ensuite commercialisés par une marque, et vous vous demandez comment être sûr de négocier la juste rémunération pour vos créations ?
Either the brand that hired you sent you a service contract, or you provided it with your own. In any case, it must include a clause transferring the rights to your creations to the brand, in exchange for a fee.
You have to keep in mind that the main reason why the brand pays you is not to create, but to have the right to appropriate your creations.
The creative effort you put in is spread out over a defined period of time, whereas the benefits derived from the exploitation of creations by a company are potentially infinite. That's why it's important to be compensated for the true value of your creations.
All original creations are entitled to royalties.
By "original" we mean a model that shows a creative effort as well as an aesthetic bias. In the case of a garment, the choice of a cut, a pattern and a material are enough in most cases to make the creation original. To take a concrete case: if you imagine a white t-shirt with a standard cut and decide to add patterns that you draw yourself, the t-shirt will be an original creation. As we have seen, an original creation gives the right to the payment of royalties.
As a general rule, designs that are not considered "original" are those that are devoid of any uniqueness, such as a white cotton t-shirt with a universal fit. It is also the case of creations made following the precise instructions of the brand, because they do not require any creative effort from the designer.
If your creation is original, the company that commissioned you is obliged to pay you royalties on the public sale price of the creations, except in cases where the calculation of royalties is impossible (for example, if the creations are integrated into another product).
However, in cases where the calculation of royalties on the sale price of the products is impossible, you must therefore collect royalties on the sale prices to the public, in addition to the fixed price that you have negotiated for the creative mission.
Whether you receive royalties or not, the company that hired you is obligated to provide you with clear and transparent information once a year about the revenue it generates from the marketing of your creations. Even if most contracts do not include this obligation, you are entitled to request these documents from the company.
Once you have received this information, if you find that the revenue generated by the marketing of your creations is very high and that the amount you were paid for their creation is derisory, you are entitled to request additional remuneration directly from the company.
Link to the article published on the French Fashion Union website.
