I told you I would start releasing different legal guides for different jobs and I am keeping my promise! I believe legal needs of stylists are not discussed enough, so here’s a little guide with 4 legal elements you should be looking into and considering getting done if you are a fashion stylist.
Of course, please take this as legal information and not legal advice. If you have any questions regarding legal needs for stylists, send me an email at info@artylaw.ca.
1. Service agreement
As usual, this is the basis for service providers. If you don’t already have a service agreement, this is one of the first elements you need to take care of. Service agreements are, amongst other things, essential to set expectations between you and your client. If you’d like more information about how a service agreement can help you, check out my blog post about why you need a PROPER service agreement.
2. Pull letter
Ahh the famous pull letter (or letter of responsibility). If you have been in the fashion/styling business for some time, you are probably already aware of what this document is. A pull letter is a legal document that outlines, amongst other things, what the garments you are borrowing will be used for, how long they’ll be borrowed for and who will take the responsibility if anything were to happen to them. Having such a document ready for the designers you borrow clothes from not only showcases professionalism, but also helps build trust with the people you do business with. I’ve also written a full blog post about pull letters in the past, so do not hesitate to go read it!
3. Privacy policy & terms and conditions
Many personal stylists and image consultants now have a website where they not only showcase their work, but also sell packages and gift certificates. If this is your case, you should have good terms and conditions as well as a privacy policy.
Terms and conditions set the ground rules for your website. They can include a variety of information such as return policies and rules to control potential abuse.
Privacy policies, on the other hand, are used to disclose what kind of personal information you collect about your users, why you collect them and whether or not you share them with third-parties. This is particularly important if you take payments on your website (as personal data includes financial transactions). Keep in mind that privacy policies are mandatory if you collect personal data, so make sure you get one properly drafted. Want to know more about these two documents? There’s also a post for that on the blog!
4. Sales tax
In Quebec, you are required to register to collect taxes if you have made more than 30,000$ over the last 4 consecutive civil trimesters. However, you should consider registering before even hitting that amount, as that will allow you to ask for a reimbursement of sales tax paid on your expenses (for instance, sales tax paid on your office lease, website hosting, etc).
If you have any additional legal questions you would like to ask me regarding stylists, do not hesitate to send us an email at info@artylaw.ca or click on the link below to schedule an initial consultation.
