Diane Von Furstenberg Sues Forever 21
Rack up on party tops for $13.50 while you can, ladies. Because if designer Diane Von Furstenberg has anything to say about it, cheap retail giant Forever 21 won’t be around much longer.
Diane von Furstenberg is suing the chain for selling a replica of one of her overpriced dresses.
The famed designer thinks cheapie-fashion store Forever 21’s $32 “Sabrina” smock dress looks suspiciously similar to her own $325 “Cerisier” design.
Von Furstenberg’s studio filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit last week against Forever 21, claiming the retailer willfully copied the pattern, colors, and measurements of her popular frock - as well as another dress from a previous season.
While the fashion industry has long been plagued by counterfeiters hawking knockoffs on Chinatown street corners, rarely do established mass-market retailers so brazenly mimic high-end designers’ current-season offerings, von Furstenberg’s lawyers claim.
“The so-called ‘legitimized’ versions are slightly better in quality [than knockoffs] but none are the same as the original genuine product,” said Harley Lewin, of law firm Greenberg Traurig, who is representing von Furstenberg’s studio.
“The harm done is probably greater. Consumers are more likely to think they’re buying the real thing at a retail outlet like this one, as opposed to a street corner,” Lewin said. “When the quality isn’t there, as it ultimately isn’t, the consumers blame the brand.”
The similarities go beyond appearance. Both dresses are 100 percent silk, and both are made in China. To the untrained eye, the construction seems almost the same.
The difference in prices likely has to do with the premium put on a designer name, product development on the part of von Furstenberg, the manufacturing conditions and the quality of the material.
It’s rare that designers willingly spend the time and effort to go after offenders. But von Furstenberg, whose fans include the likes of Susan Sarandon, Paris Hilton, Carmen Electra and Kate Moss, has taken a more aggressive approach. In recent months, she’s filed lawsuits in five states in an effort to protect her brand’s intellectual property.
In addition to seeking unspecified financial damages, von Furstenberg requested a court order that Forever 21 remove and recall the dresses and any promotional display or commercial distribution of products that infringe on DVF’s copyrights.
Forever 21 did not return calls seeking comment.
Digital images and the Internet have made it more difficult for fashion houses to fight imitators. Where sketchers from rival houses were commonly banned from fashion shows in the 1940s and 1950s, today rivals can log on minutes after a presentation and see incredibly detailed images.
“With today’s electronic media, you can show something in a store or on a runway [and] pictures, good ones, are available on the Internet within hours,” Lewin says. “To digitize a print from such a quality photograph is relatively easy. After that, it’s a matter of finding someone to make the fake goods and in China, unfortunately, that’s not terribly hard.”
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On March 31st 2007, blah blah wrote:
damn I love that store.
Von Furstenberg needs to yank that pole out of her ass.
On March 31st 2007, blah blah wrote:
p.s. that truly WAS a kickass article.
On March 31st 2007, gertie wrote:
blah blah i couldnt have said it better.
; )
FOREVER 21 = LOVE
On April 12th 2007, kt wrote:
wait, so this lawyer dude thinks that when people buy knockoffs from forever 21, they think they’re actually buying DVF? what sort of idiots does he think we are?
On April 21st 2007, Action Justified wrote:
I hate F21. It’s cheap garbage and most people that shop there don’t know the meaning of “age appropriate” nor do they wear the correct size. Additionally, F21 has stolen the ideas from designers other than Furstenberg. It’s time someone put his or her foot down. I’d rather have one DvF than 100 pieces of crap from F21.
On May 6th 2007, kt2 wrote:
Okay, it’s pieces of everything.
- Forever 21 has inexpensive and nicely fitting (yes I wear the correct size) clothing. I like that because I can’t afford designer things, and their clothes are cute.
-however, DVF worked hard to get to her current status, she has every right to catch the “plagiarism” on her designs. It’s like with authors and musicians.
No one should be able to copy others’ work, but is it necessary for designer clothing to be that expensive? Beyond quality and fair worker pay, how much does it have to cost for the name?
But overall, yeah, she should have sued.
On July 17th 2007, Gwen Stefani Sues Forever 21 For Copyright Infringement | Style Crunch wrote:
[...] This is the second bout of legal trouble for Forever 21 this year; famed designed Diane Von Furstenburg is also suing the retailer for copyright infringement. [...]
On July 18th 2007, Truth wrote:
This is retarded. You cannot copyright fashion. Diane and her designers, as well as all the others, use trend forecasting publications as well as past trends to create their designs and besides, the designs she is suing over has been created many times before her.
Fashion is for everyone not just the few.
On July 24th 2007, Bebe And Marc Jacobs Sue Forever 21; Twenty Copyright Infringement Lawsuits Pending Against Retailer | Style Crunch wrote:
[...] fashion mavens Bebe and Marc Jacobs have joined Gwen Stefani and Diane Von Furstenberg as upscale designers who are filing copyright infringement lawsuits against cheapie chain [...]
On February 27th 2008, lucylu wrote:
If Diane Von Furstenberg believes she deserves to charge so much for her dresses she should, a) not make her dresses in China, b) make designs that are not easy to imitate and mass manufacture.
People who shop at F21 are on a budget. Reality is only 2% of the world’s population are wealthy. Maybe she should start doing something for the majority.
On March 2nd 2008, Tangy wrote:
Most of you guys are retarded.
You probubly claim to love fashion and anything by designers but really you know jack shit about fashion!
Designers are artists who work HARD to get their stuff off the ground. So when pathetic main stream stores like Forever 21 try to rip them off, of course their gonna get mad.
and don’t act like you don’t get mad when someone copys you because it’s the same here just on a bigger scale.
On March 2nd 2008, Paulo Siqueira wrote:
No wonder how lately she’s is everywhere……….Could this been all planed…like “we’ll share the loley later”? After all she is a smart woman …well no quite ?????!!!!! Future will tell !!!!
On May 6th 2008, Kate wrote:
Tangy knows exactly what’s up, and I would personally like to congratulate all of those in favor of Forever 21’s cheap designer imitations for their ignorance.
NEWS FLASH! Forever 21 does not even have designers, they steal directly off the runway and place their substandard clothes in the store no less than a week later.
No wonder the Earth is going under such environmental changes, it’s because of all the cheap cotton/poly blend clothing from F21 thrown away after one use (because really, after one wash how would such survive).
If F21 does not come up with the design then why should it make profit off such! A company can either purchase the right to the design, or get in a lawsuit, just like the DVF dress case.
For being a reportedly “religious company” they sure need to go to confession, the game they are playing is not fair, and overall, they should not have the right to do such.
And for all of those who use the excuse that they can not afford designer clothing, go to Target and purchase their monthly in-house designer clothing, or The Gap, where world renowned designers are showcasing fashions for this spring, or better yet a second hand store, vintage is always a good option, and sometimes you find the designer your looking for at more than 75% off the price. I mean really, think about this for one minute…. does purchasing a knock-off designer dress feel like the right thing to do? How would you feel knowing the dress you are wearing is a direct copy of a design labored over by a designer, or better yet a product of copyright-infringement?
I can’t believe that people so obsessed with not having enough money to purchase designer clothing would dare to criticize the working class they are a part of. Most designers have busted their butts to get to where they are now through hard work and dedication, not by snapping a picture at a runway show and copying the exact design. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.
On June 8th 2008, Orange wrote:
For those who speak so highly of “designer clothing,” please note that designer clothing copies off each other. Example: notice how many designer and non-designer have pointy black shoes?! Fashion is meant to be copied. F21 gives cheap alternatives for lower quality. I bet people buy a DVF-knockoff dress at F21 because they think it is cute, not because it is DVF. If designers start to sue others for copying their styles, I bet the whole fashion world will be suing itself.