Booty for Oxfam after copycat row

Ripping off designer looks is a short cut to riches for some high street chains. But the latest case of copycat fashion has handed an unexpected windfall to Oxfam.

The charity has been given 130 expensive pairs of boots after Georgina Goodman, a Mayfair-based shoemaker, threatened legal action against a cut-price retailer that had copied her suede and snakeskin boots.

The retailer, the Risky clothing chain, has removed the offending boots and paid Ms Goodman's legal costs.

BJ Cunningham, Ms Goodman's husband and a director in her shoe business, said: "The more designers who stand up and protect their intellectual property the better. Then maybe the copiers will stop."

An Oxfam spokesman said the boots would go to Ukraine, to help "people who have little or no access to such items".