License to tweak: Artistic license at first-tier Indian apparel suppliers

Abstract

Abstract Many artists and designers do not have full control over the production and interpretation of their work. Their sphere of influence is governed by art world parameters like artistic license, defined as the moral authorization of creative performance. Globalization is changing the distribution of task assignments and the allocation of credit in many industries, but fashion is particularly interesting because of its commercial power and cultural relevance. This article explores how fashion design is increasingly distributed through global value chains. Based on 11 months of ethnographic fieldwork at first-tier Indian apparel exporters, I show how buyers and suppliers collaborate in the administrative practice of “tweaking.” Consonant with a global shift toward trade in services (not just tasks like assembly), buyers from Western brands assume and expect design and tweaking from suppliers as part of full-package manufacturing. I discuss the routines, legality, and violations of tweaking as a mode of artistic license, as well as the social psychology of creative attribution. While Western brand designers maintain exclusive claims to innovation, Indian supply-side designers are more likely to accept the realities of distributed creativity. By contrasting the Western ethic of aesthetic individualism with the transnational industry routine of “tweaking,” we gain a new clarity about the distribution of creativity and the limits of artistic license.