Creative Industries
Creative industries are industries focused on the creation, exploitation and appropriation of artisans’ intellectual property, including art, fashion design, and related creative services, such as advertisement and sales. During a trip to Burkina Faso in West Africa, Keri Fosse was taught by an African woman how to wrap 
newborns with fabric in a manner that creates a strong bond and frees the mother’s hands for other tasks.
Craft culture
Burkina Faso has a craft culture and is known for its woven cotton and the textile art of Bogolan. Bogolan is a technique original to and involves the tradition of dyeing threads with bright colors, washing it skillfully, using coated and shiny Bazin, and using indigo from Benin. After this trip, Fosse and her husband developed a shirt which copies the African lady’s, Lalabu’s, technique.
They developed a product called Soothe Shirt; and created a business called Lalabu. Lalabu is also the name of the African woman that the Fosses met. They have been successful. The Fosses have stated that they got the idea from Lalabu, but redesigned it for production. The couple advertises that they “giving back” by giving 2% percent of each purchase to help female African entrepreneurs through microfinancing.
Intellectual property piracy
The Fosses claim that when African women repay their micro-loans, the women reinvest the money into the loan fund. This study argues that such practices do not reflect socially responsible entrepreneurship. Instead, they represent intellectual property piracy. The following sections discuss the relevant legal and theoretical foundations, along with current best practices. However, these practices often lack shared ownership. While Americans may commonly appropriate artisans’ intellectual property within the U.S., their appropriation of cultural crafts from other countries demands closer scrutiny and accountability.