Lululemon vs. Calvin Klein
High end sports apparel brand Lululemon is suing designer brand Calvin Klein, for allegedly ‘ripping off’ one of its designs.
In the past few years Lululemon has become increasingly popular in the CrossFit world with a number of popular sports bras and athletic tank tops used by top athletes, but it is now their yoga pants that are causing a stir.
The brand is claiming its range of ‘Astro Pants’, which are designed for yoga, have been copied by Calvin Klein.
Specifically, it is the waistband area that is of concern.
The Astro Pant waistband design consists of a number of overlapping bands, which Lululemon had three patents on. They believe Calvin Klein has copied this waistband feature and used it in their Performance knee-length running tights.
Many people are calling Lululemon’s legal approach to this case a ‘novel’ one, in that not too many fashion brands go to the effort of patenting their designs. Usually, with fashion changing every few seasons, brands try to keep up to date with evolving fashions, rather than patent one of their designs.
However, this case shows us that Lululemon clearly cares about its ownership of the design, and wants to hold onto its reputation of being a ‘unique’ and ‘innovative’ brand.
If Lululemon wins the case, we could see a change in the way brands protect their fashion designs in the future.
Who knows, maybe we could see brands like Strength Wraps patenting future designs, or Reebok trying to patent their design on CrossFit shoes like the Nano 2.0.?
Here’s a short video about Lululemon suing Calvin Klein over the Astro Pants:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQTgvbMe6yM
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