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Clothing design does not have copyright because clothing is considered untilitarian and functional, rather than artistic. We may disagree with this assessment, but nevertheless the law is that Clothing design does not have copyright protection. Therefore, clothing designers are free to imitate existing designs from the current day or from history. Clothing designers are free to see expensive clothes on the fashion runways or red carpets and then create knock-off versions that will be sold at Target (for example).
Art works printed onto clothing, such as graphic t-shirts, do have copyright protection.
Fabric designs also have copyright protection.
Trademarks on clothing also have protection. There are many registered trademarks that are used on different brands of clothing, on handbags, etc. It is illegal to create counterfeit clothing or handbags that have imitation trademarks that try to fool people into buying these fakes.
A clothing line can also have a registered trademark. Most high-end design houses have numerous trademarks to protect their clothing brands.
Contracts are also used in the clothing design business. For example, a designer might sign an exclusive contract to create designs for a certain company. Or a designer might sign a licensing contract to allow her or his name to be used by a certain clothing company for a set amount of time. The actual clothing items may or may not be designed by that designer, but their name is being lent to the designs and should be up to their approval or standards.
Photo by Charlota Blunarova on Unsplash