Chloé's previous legal issues

July 26, 2007 — empiricalskeptic
Fashion house, Chloe forces Topshop to destroy entire stock of a hideous yellow dress – Topshop, Sir Philip Green’s British counterpart to Sweden’s H&M – or Spain’s Zara, but not quite that of America’s rather trashy, in comparison, Forever 21 – has been slapped with a lawsuit accusing the designer-replicas-trends-on-a-budget stores of copyright infringement. Chloe, the fashion house that put Stella McCartney on the map, claims that Topshop (whose version is pictured on the right) ripped off their original design of the sorry looking yellow rag you see pictured on the left. Topshop was selling the dress for about $70, more than 75% less than the cost of the designer original. Chloe has a zero-tolerance policy for knock-offs and is known for sending out undercover solicitors “to seek out pictorial evidence of counterfeits.” Thus far, the strategy has helped them to preserve the façade of originality worn by hedge fund and soccer wives. Because Sir Philip Green is a rational man, and one that knows to part with ugly when he sees it, Topshop “paid them £12,000 [for damages/legal fees] without any admission over whether it was or it wasn’t [a copy]…[and] felt it was easier to do that and get on with the rest of our lives.” [The Times]