Retailer Forever 21 has filed a lawsuit this week against Gucci over the right to use blue-red-blue and green-red-green stripes on garments and accessories. The Fashion Law reports that the suit comes in response to three cease and desist letters Gucci sent to Forever 21 demanding that it remove garments featuring its trademarked stripe combinations from stores or face a lawsuit. It seems that the fast fashion retailer is attempting to get ahead of that threat by requesting that a judge allow it to continue using the design and cancel Gucci’s stripes trademarks.
Both companies have been under fire recently for design piracy. Gucci has been criticized for copying a Dapper Dan design for its 2018 Cruise Collection; Forever 21 has been accused of copying other designers numerous times. Most recently, the company was sued by Puma over claims that it was selling ripoffs of shoes from the Fenty by Rihanna collections.
In a statement to The Fashion Law, Gucci accused Forever 21 of using the lawsuit to distract from its own trademark and copyright infringements.
