Case study · Investigations
The Collection That Launched Twice
An export house's seasonal designs appeared at a rival supplier and on a new online label weeks before its own buyer launch. The leak ran through its own design floor.
- Patent, design & process theft
- Leakage of confidential information
- Undisclosed conflict of interest
- Evidence destruction
- order book protected
- US$4–6Morder book protected
- relief obtained
- Interimrelief obtained
- retained
- Buyerretained
- staff exited
- 3staff exited
01The situation
The buyer saw the collection at a competitor first.
An apparel exporter developed seasonal collections for international brands. A key buyer reported that a rival had offered almost the same designs, and a new online label launched similar pieces in India.
How it came to us
An international buyer told the company that near-identical samples had been offered by another supplier.
02How it worked
- 01A senior merchandiser and two designers shared design files and specification sheets with a rival supplier ahead of sampling.
- 02Files moved through personal cloud storage and messaging from office machines.
- 03One designer was a silent partner in a new online label that used adapted versions of the same designs.
- 04The rival offered the buyer lower prices because it carried no development cost.
Swipe sideways to see the whole diagram.
- The organisation
- Insiders involved
- Channels & documents
- Outside parties
- Where the money ended up
How it was hidden
Personal cloud accounts, renamed files, and gradual sharing over weeks rather than a single bulk transfer.
03The challenge
Establish how the designs left, who was involved, and preserve evidence strong enough to support legal action and reassure the buyer.
What made it hard
- Designs are easy to adapt and hard to prove copied
- Evidence on personal accounts
- Buyer relationship under strain
- Need for court-ready evidence
Red flags that were there to see
- Buyer reports similar samples elsewhere
- Staff with outside business interests in the same category
- Large design files moved to personal storage
- Access to collections beyond role
04Our approach
- Workstream 01
Digital forensics
Preserved and examined design-floor devices and accounts.
- Workstream 02
Design comparison
Expert comparison of the leaked, the rival and the original designs.
- Workstream 03
Corporate records and OSINT
Ownership of the rival connections and the new label.
- Workstream 04
Interviews
Design and merchandising staff.
- Workstream 05
Litigation support
Evidence packs for counsel.
The breakthrough
Forensic examination tied the specific files that appeared at the rival to accounts controlled by the design team, and records linked one designer to the new label.
05What we found & did
- Design files shared with a rival supplier before sampling.
- A designer held an undisclosed interest in a competing label.
- The merchandiser was paid by the rival.
- The sampling vendor, first suspected, was cleared.
06The impact
The company obtained interim relief against the rival's use of the designs, exited the staff involved, retained the buyer with a documented account of the breach, and restricted design-file access by collection.
- order book protected
- US$4–6Morder book protected
- relief obtained
- Interimrelief obtained
- retained
- Buyerretained
- staff exited
- 3staff exited
07Lessons for your business
The controls that would have stopped this, or caught it sooner:
- Restrict design files by collection and role.
- Block personal cloud sync on design machines.
- Collect declarations of outside interests from creative staff.
- Watermark tech packs shared externally.
~₹5 Crundue benefit quantified
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A subsidiary CEO routed a rural retail rollout through vendors fronted by his own associates. The money trail led back to him.
- Procurement reconstruction
- Corporate and statutory records
- Ground intelligence
- Funds-flow tracing
US$4.7M+diversion traced to the founder
Zero Skin in the Game
An investor funded a road-construction contractor. Within months, the founder's own contribution had quietly gone to zero and the diversion had begun.
- Records digitisation
- Funds-flow reconstruction
- Personal wealth analysis
- Corporate and property records
~1Memails and documents reviewed
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Shareholders suspected their managing director of hiding a fortune. On the data available, the money trail did not support that suspicion, and it surfaced employee frauds instead.
- Digital forensics
- Source and application of funds
- Related-party mapping
- Market intelligence
Client names and identifying details are withheld to protect confidentiality. Specific references and client experiences can be shared on request, with the client’s consent.
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