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Dang I’ve heard of protecting your trademarks, but everybody can’t be infringing and with everyone they are going after their court cost will probably travel over into the low millions. Next thing you know they will be going after the manufacturers that are producing the jeans for the hundreds of companies that they have pending lawsuits against!

Now they are?throwing the book at?Polo Ralph Lauren the leader in men’s fashion, but I guess they can break the rule too. Most of the lawsuits they have pending are on jean makers stealing the stitch design on the back pockets of their world famous jeans (two intersecting arcs and a cloth label) . Illustration is below:

Some of?Levi Strauss?future and past victims include:

Von Dutch Originals

Polo Ralph Lauren

Guess

Zegna

Esprit

Lucky Brand

Zumiez

Rock & Republic

Wrangler jeans

As you can see Levi Strauss isn’t just picking on the little guys, but have and still are going after some of the big guys in the?denim jeans market. Watch out your clothing company could be next!

During the 1848 California Gold Rush while everyone was digging there lives away and more leaving poor than rich, a man by the name of Loeb “Levi” Strauss saw an opportunity knocking. With all the miners looking for gold and all of them picking up and leaving from there hometowns rushing toward Northern California they were all in need of a durable denim jean and Levi Strauss was the answer.

Loeb “Levi” Strauss wasn’t the founder of the Levi jean company, but was the creative mind who noticed an opportunity and propelled there business into becoming one of the fashion industry dominators. It was part of a family business with Levi being the youngest of the siblings and pretty much responsible for the quick expansion of the Levi empire opening up his own independent shop in 1853. Levi Strauss owns half the patent for the process of securing the seams of denim pants and riveting them on the pockets and the base of the crotch area. He shared the patent with Jacob Davis a tailor who couldn’t afford to apply for a patent so he proposed an offer that Levi couldn’t refuse.

Nick Loftis founder of Greedy Genius the footwear phenomenon that had me confused on how a sneaker company can go from 0 to sold out on the launch date. Now I see all that glitters is not gold, because according to some facts I received Nick Loftis was also an original founder of the Apple Bottoms and Vokal clothing brand. If you remember correctly both clothing companies were founded by Nelly the multi-platinum….millionaire rap star. It just made no sense to me how a footwear company could go from ground zero to very successful in less than a years time and having such a successful launch.

I always wondered why they made it there mission to stay underground and be part of the street culture when developing their brand. I know with most street wear brands it is the culture itself that makes so many of the brands a big hit and Greedy Genius is no exception to the rule. Other than the fact the three founders already have/had very successful careers in the fashion industry. Hue was a former designer and consultant for Nike Bluehouse. Mikhayel Tesfaye was co-creator behind major clothing brands including Rocawear, and Zoo York. Last but not least Brandon Chang is an Asian artist and protege to international star Michelle Yeoh. Add all these names together and you see why you have the next sneaker head addiction.

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Everyone is familiar with Christian Dior, because they have such a broad product range from sunglasses to womenswear and the former head designer Christian Lacroix has celebrity status beyond most modern day alive and well?designers. Every designer hopes to one day win awards from the CFDA and get recognition for being a pioneer or presenting the industry with ground breaking design work, but most probably never dream of having a museum dedicated to their?rise as a fashion designer. Christian Dior childhood home was turned into a museum in his honor, which was officially inaugarated in 1997.

He was a pioneer in the fashion industry and responsible for what was called the “New Look” which was big skirts cinched waist with an exaggerated breast that brought back femininity and glamour after all the utility designed looks before the Second World War. Christian Dior died of a heart attack from choking on a fish bone at a rest cure in Montecatini, Italy?1957.

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Roy Raymond was the founder of? $5.1 billion dollar Victoria’s Secret??intimate apparel line, which he started in San Francisco, California in 1977. He opened his first Victoria Secret’s Shop in Stanford Shopping Center with a $40,000 bank loan and another $40,000 from relatives. (Wish I had relatives with that kind of money when I started ) In his first year in business Victoria Secret’s earned $500,000 and by the time he sold it for $1 million in 1982?his five shops and booming mail-order catalogue was grossing $6?million a year….what the hell is wrong with this guy? He must have been in some kind of debt or owed a large amount of money to sell a $6 million dollar a year company for?only $1 million?:(.??

Years later Roy Raymond started My Child’s Destiny and was a specialty retail store for children. It went bankrupt in 1986…maybe had something to do with his suicide years later. He was found dead by Marine County shoreline on September 2, 1993 hours after being seen walking around the Golden Gate Bridge. Investigators later confirmed that it was a suicide.

Marc Milecofsky attended Rutgers University of Pharmacy in the early 90’s, but soon after dropped out and started Ecko Unlimited with partner Seth Gerszberg in 1993. Marc always enjoyed graffitti art and the influence is shown in every garment in Ecko Unlimited’s early design days and he still draws from it in the current stylings. Marc Milecofsky legally changed his name to Marc Ecko in 1997 as an inside joke about an obstetrician that mistakenly identified his twin sister Marci Tapper (while still in his mothers stomach) as a mere echo and assured her that she only had one child.

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If any of you have been alive for the last 30 or so years, than you have definitely heard of Ralph Lipshitz brand that has been the leading sportswear brand for many years. Ralph Lipshitz is known in the public eye as Ralph Lauren. Even though he is one of the greatest fashion designers to ever live he never attended fashion school or received any kind of formal training, but did go to city college for two years and called it quits when the college life wasn’t what he expected.

By 1997 Ralph Laurens Polo was selling more than $5 billion in clothes yearly and his estimated net worth is around $1billion. In the same year he decided to take his company public to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, which proved to be a smart move for his business.

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Fashion designer and innovator Liz Claiborne died Tuesday of a unknown cause. I think this post was definitely needed to show respect to a highly successful fashion industry veteran. Liz Claiborne started her company in 1976 with less than $500,000 and grew into a $5 billion dollar monster in the fashion industry.

Most of Liz Claiborne innovations were made in the women’s apparel industry with career women being her target, but her legacy far surpasses that one market. Liz Claiborne as a company was on the pulse of fashion and business as a whole. Fashion just being a foot in the door of success. Liz Claiborne went on to create beauty products, luggage and much much more. They also had their hand in the business of acquiring successful small clothing companies including their buyout of urban sportswear company Enyce for $114 million.

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If you’re not familiar with one of the above clothing labels than you probably aren’t reading the right blog…lol, because each are part of a different era in urban fashion. Willie Esco clothing brand, which was started in the early 90’s by Willie Escobar Montanez. Their market being young Latino’s who are involved in the urban hip hop culture.

Blanco clothing label which we wrote about in an article earlier this year is a clothing company with Latin inspired garments. The?Blanco?Label is a joint venture between Willie Montanez and Vibe Base Group ( A jeans company).?Makaveli Branded Clothing is a urban clothing line inspired by fallen rapper Tupac Shakur and is already available worldwide. With so many bootleg and counterfeit clothing lines with the rappers face or lyrics incorporated Makaveli is the only official clothing brand for Tupac Shakur.

There are many other clothing companies that are owned or bought out by clothing company owners with proven records of success including COOGI, FUBU, Crown Holder Collection?and Drunknmunky that were once under the same umbrella. Most designers just reinvent the wheel and bring current styles to the marketplace. Some repeat success while others don’t.

There is no doubt about it that Ralph Lauren Polo is one of the most widely known? and award winning brands for the last 20+ years. What many people don’t know is that he worked as a salesman for two gloves companies and a?tie manufacturer?A. Rivetz & Co, which would lead to the fashion?phenomenon that is Ralph Lauren.

While working at A. Rivetz & Co. Ralph Lauren started designing a creative collection of wide ties. With a $50,000 loan in hand and his wide ties Ralph Lauren founded the Polo Fashions Company in 1968. Him and his older brother collaborated on the creation of the name Polo, which they chose because of the power, style, and intrigue that the brand has always been associated with

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Christian Audigier is back in court again for breach of a contract agreement between Nervous Tattoo (Owned by Christian Audigier) and Hardy Life license and intellectual property owner of the Ed Hardy brand by Christian Audigier.

Hardy Life accuses Nervous Tattoo of being part of a sublicensing deal that has a negative affect on business due to conflict of interest to Hardy Life, including under reporting sales, blocking audits, and failing to pay all royalties due. Nervous Tattoo fired back in a cross complaint claiming Hardy Life breached the contract fraudulent misrepresentations and negligent misrepresentations while also denying any involvement with the previous allegations by Hardy Life.

This being only one of his many lawsuits Christian Audigier was also being sued by former employee Von Dutch with whom he is no longer with due to unfair competition presented to the Von Dutch brand by the launch of his successful Ed Hardy clothing label.

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