A Korean-American jeans manufacturer has filed a lawsuit for damages of tens of millions of dollars against popular clothing retailer Fashion Nova.
Fashion Nova is a brand that emerged popular through Instagram several years ago. The online fashion giant, which generates more than $2 billion in annual sales, is a major supplier to many Korean American apparel companies.
According to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Vibrant M.I.U. sued Fashion Nova for allegedly stealing its designs to make counterfeit jeans.
The complaint was filed in court on November 27 last year. The plaintiffs requested a trial by jury and sought $70.4 million in damages, alleging unfair competition, intentional interference with contractual relations, and other misconduct. The plaintiffs also sought an injunction to halt Fashion Nova from selling the “counterfeit exact replica” jeans that allegedly stole their design.
According to the complaint, Fashion Nova stole the style numbers of certain models of jeans manufactured by Vibrant and sold the counterfeits.
Vibrant alleged that Fashion Nova exploited the company’s reputation through search engine optimization (SEO) techniques and strategically manipulated the search results of retailers and consumers to enhance the promotion of counterfeit jeans.
Vibrant and Fashion Nova have reportedly been doing business for about 10 years.
“Fashion Nova used not only the style number of our jeans but also the same design and fabric,” Jin Park, a representative of Vibrant, told the Korea Daily on September 13, adding, “They manufactured them cheaply in China and sold them all over the world through online shopping malls.”
Other than this, Fashion Nova has been embroiled in lawsuits over various allegations. The company was sued by sportswear giant Adidas for allegedly stealing designs for its Stan Smith shoes. Fashion Nova was also fined $4.2 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2022 for suppressing negative consumer reviews. Other notable cases include a trademark dispute over the Playboy and bunny marks, a $6.5 million settlement for breach of a shipping contract, and a controversy over wage exploitation of subcontractors in Los Angeles.
BY YEOL JANG, HOONSIK WOO [jang.yeol@koreadaily.com]
