A California-based denim company, Huge U.S.A., Inc., operating as Vibrant M.I.U., has taken legal action against fast-fashion giant Fashion Nova, alleging the sale of copied versions of their jeans, labelled as “counterfeit exact replicas.”
Previously, Vibrant M.I.U. had a decade-long partnership with Fashion Nova to produce its popular jeans. However, in a recent lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County, Vibrant alleges that Fashion Nova, aiming to undermine Vibrant’s sales, moved its designs to a third-party manufacturer to create less expensive imitations of their jeans.
The complaint asserts that Fashion Nova persists in selling replicas of Vibrant’s designs, including their P88 jeans, popularised after Kylie Jenner’s Instagram endorsement. Vibrant contends that Fashion Nova not only replicated their designs but also integrated Vibrant’s original style numbers, like P88, into the counterfeit jeans, blurring the line between Vibrant’s genuine products and Fashion Nova’s knockoffs.
Moreover, Vibrant accuses Fashion Nova of employing deceptive search engine optimisation (SEO) tactics to exploit Vibrant’s reputation, strategically manipulating the visibility of its jeans by targeting specific style numbers associated with Vibrant.
With Vibrant offering 17 jean styles in multiple colours, the company claims its jeans significantly contributed to Fashion Nova’s US $ 2 billion annual sales, as reported by Forbes.
Alleging confusion in the marketplace and harm to its business and reputation, Vibrant seeks a US $ 70.4 million compensation and an injunction to halt Fashion Nova’s sale of the disputed jeans.
Fashion Nova has a history of legal disputes. In the past, Adidas sued the company for allegedly violating its Stan Smith sneaker trade dress.
