Rihanna‘s Fenty x Puma collection officially dropped last week and Puma is already going after Topshop and Forever 21 for selling knock-offs of RiRi’s coveted designs at lower price points.
The suit against Topshop was filed last month and accused the brand of selling nearly identical versions of the most recent Fenty x Puma footwear designs.
The suit against Topshop was launched last month and accuses the British fashion company of selling nearly identical versions of the most recent Fenty x Puma sneaker and sandal designs. TMZ also reported that they have recently obtained documentation about a similar suit against Forever 21, which alleges that the fashion brand copied Rihanna’s award-winning creepers and fuzzy slippers, too.
The suit states that Forever 21′s “business model is based on trading off of the established goodwill of reputable, name-brand companies, such as Puma.” Puma is asking for sales of the knock-offs to stop completely and wants all profits from the copycats.
“We will continue to take action to enforce our global intellectual property rights both against other brands who seek to trade off our designs and reputation and those who trade in counterfeit products,” the brand said in a statement.
Notably enough for most, Rihanna almost single-handedly transformed Puma’s design aesthetics. According to Glamour, as creative director of the Fenty x Puma line, RiRi upped the company’s sales by over 17 percent in 2015, bringing their earnings to a whopping $1 billion.
FASHION NEWS: TMZ reports that Puma has sued Forever 21 over copying Rihanna's designs. Demands shut down sales of the “knocked-off” gear! pic.twitter.com/L9OA1AbfGZ
— Kgopolo (@PhilMphela) April 1, 2017
Other companies who have also tried to copy RiRi’s Fenty x Puma Slides and Creepers like Steve Madden, Nine West and Urban Outfitters have yet to face legal action from Puma.
Over the years, Forever 21 has attempted to handle over 50 accusations of copyright violations from big time designers like Diane von Fürstenberg, Anna Sui and even Gwen Stefani.
Funny how big brands still leverage on intellectual properties of others in order to make bigger bucks, right? 😉
