Support Kate's Fight Against Knock-Offs

The short story: Most of my income comes from a product I designed, and this year the idea was stolen and cheap copies flooded marketplaces like Amazon, Temu, and Shein for a lower cost and faster shipping. As a result, my sales dropped off sharply. I had to put my house up for sale and I am in a deep financial well. I’m hoping to raise funds to hire a lawyer who can help me fight a battle against the knock-offs and reclaim the market for my product, as well as to help me get by while I wait for my house to sell.

The long story: Hi! My name is Kate Gabrielle. In 2017 I got very, very sick and was hospitalized right before Christmas. During my recovery I started going for long walks and drinking a ridiculous amount of water to try to regain my health. During those walks, I kept wishing that I had some kind of purse that could hold my tumbler in between sips – and at that moment an idea was born. I filed a patent for my cup-holder bag on February 7, 2021 (63/153,700). After lots of preparation and a fair amount of anxiety about whether or not anyone would want them, I listed my first batch of bags for sale on November 19, 2021. They sold out within hours. I was shocked! My next sale, in February of 2022, went viral on TikTok and I sold thousands of bags in a matter of days! I never thought I’d ever be able to afford a house, but thanks to my bags I closed on my dream home on November 30, 2022.

But then the knock-offs began sprouting up. It started slowly late last year; I was briefly able to play whack-a-mole and protect my hard work. But then one of the Amazon sellers filed a counter-complaint. Wild, right. Amazon gave me a 10-day window to prove that I had filed a lawsuit or else they would allow the knock-off to be relisted. Like most self-employed artists, I couldn’t afford a lawyer, let alone a lawsuit. Amazon opened the floodgates and now the market is overrun with cheap copies of my bag. Influencers on Tiktok and Instagram promote these knock-offs and get millions of views, while my videos of my original bag can’t get traction anymore. The market for my own product has been stolen, and as a result my business and my life as a whole have crumbled.

I listed my house for sale in July - you may have seen it already. Remember the pink ranch house that went viral on Zillow Gone Wild this summer? Well, it still hasn’t sold. I resisted the idea of starting a GoFundMe for as long as I could. I was hoping that I could scrape together enough money to get by without asking for help. But with my house still on the market, my bills stacking up and consequent debt compounding each month, I’ve reached the point where I feel it’s absolutely necessary to give this a try. I have worked too hard and invested too much to let the cheap thieves claim victory. With your help we can take them down and right this wrong.

If you’d like to support me in another way, you can buy something from my shop, https://www.kategabrielle.com or sign up to support me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/kategabrielle.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for your support and your kindness xo Kate

instagram: @kategabrielle

tiktok: @misskategabrielle

twitter: @kategabrielle

website: kategabrielle.com