From luxury brands to toning hooves, stylish and low-cost shoe
distributors are up against the law these days. Sketchers' (NYSE:
SKX
) fitness tennis shoes have come under fire in a legal case
claiming their health benefits are bogus, while the striking
color women have come to know and love regarding their lavish
Christian Louboutin heels now signifies a bloodbath the shoe
distributor underwent in a court case this week.
SKX's athletic debacle made waves for the company when it came
to investor confidence throughout recent months, as its toning
soles were called out for making
false and unsubstantiated claims
in advertisements using celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and
Brooke Burke. While the tides are turning for the better since
the
hefty settlement
, the shoe distributor is still dealing with backlash for
promoting a product that its customers now feel duped by.
Skechers' shapely bottoms are not the only soles walking on
thin ice, as privately-held shoe retailer Christian Louboutin has
had to admit wrong-doings in court concerning its notorious red
sole. Louboutin's spikey stems
failed
to crush the battle against Spanish clothing and accessories
company Zara, a retailer that made use of the rosy underside for
which Louboutin has become famous.
Here's where things get a little dicey. Christian Louboutin
brought the court case on in 2008 following Zara's distribution
of a $70 heel that boasted an apple-red sole. The Paris-based
company believed it was the only shoe producer that had the right
to push product with said bottom, as it is red in a specific
context that only Louboutin's can use (according to the creator
himself). Turns out, he was wrong.
While the end result of the case was not monetarily
devastating to either company, Zara was able to trot away with
not only $3,600, but allowance to place whatever color it so
chooses on the underside of its shoes.
Christian Louboutin likely took the loss quite hard, as he has
vigorously attempted to defend his high-end brand throughout the
legal scuffle.
"Even in the food industry, Cadbury recently won a lawsuit
against Nestlé for using purple packaging. All this proves that
the colors play a part in a brand's identity. I'm not saying that
red usually belongs to me - I repeat that this is about a precise
red, used in a precise location," Louboutin recently told the
Daily Mail.
Zara is not the first to come up against Louboutin's colorful
conundrum, but will likely end up being the last new case the
company takes to court over the infamous sole as the ruling was
made final last week. As Mr. Louboutin heads back to court to
appeal a similar case against Yves Saint Laurent, it appears that
ladies will no longer have to pay top dollar to portray the
elegance his red soles are made to emanate, as countless
companies now have the right to bear their candy apple soles.
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