Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery?

Fake versions of the world’s leading brands do not just exist in the music and clothes industries. Imitation products are becoming a problem for established brands in more and more industries. The Danish company unidrain® is one of a number of established manufacturers whose products are being copied.

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An increasing number of international designers of clothes, watches and lamps are seeing their products being illegally copied and sold all over the world. Imitation products are a significant problem for popular designer brands: a downside of popularity that can cost the companies millions. And last year’s winner of the Danish Design Prize, the plumbing manufacturer unidrain®, has not been spared.

Groundbreaking and inspiring
Successful businesses in all areas where design plays a crucial role often find their products being imitated and copied. It’s not surprising, then, that unidrain®, the Danish manufacturer of wall-mounted floor drain for bathrooms, was forced to take legal action in the spring of 2011 against several manufacturers who have copied its groundbreaking invention. unidrain®’s elegant drain, which can be integrated with the floor and wall, has revolutionised bathroom design and is popular with consumers both in Denmark and internationally. According to one Danish design expert, it is not surprising that other players on the market are tempted to copy the Danish manufacturer:

- unidrain®’s success is partly due to the fact that it has shifted some of the conventions of bathroom design’, says Pernille Stockmarr, a PhD student at the Danish Centre for Design Research. ’It has solved certain functional wet-room problems and at the same time allowed consumers to decide where to place the drain, giving them more influence on the bathroom's final look. And there are probably many people who wish they’d thought of this idea first’, says Stockmarr.

The Rolls Royce of drains
Like all the greats, unidrain® has to deal with the fact that when someone is successful, everyone wants a slice of the pie. unidrain® was the first manufacturer in the world to move the drain from the traditional placement in the middle of the shower to the wall – and this solution is popular with both consumers and professional fitters. This is because the alternative to the cold, square grate in the middle of the shower provides a totally new approach to bathroom design. The new drain allows you to add warmth and a personal touch to a room that has long been overlooked in terms of design. 

In this way unidrain® has opened up an area that many want to reap benefits from – but no one has yet invented a solution that works as well as the original. unidrain’s drain has an integrated wall flange that prevents one of the most common problems in bathrooms: water damage.

unidrain®’s drains are available in the series ClassicLine and HighLine.

 

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