Christian Louboutin sues again
After taking legal action against Yves Saint Laurent last week in an attempt to stop the label selling his trademarked red-soled footwear, designer Christian Louboutin has accused another shoe brand of copying his style. This time he’s targeting the French division of South American footwear brand Carmen Steffens of Brazil.
The São Paulo-based company issued a statement in response to Louboutin’s allegations, which were filed in January, stating that it has “since its inception created a logo in red, called ‘rosette’” and finds it “surprising that another brand is trying to reserve the rights to any colour”.
A company representative added: “The tones are not the same, and, as catalogues dating from 1996 can prove, Carmen Steffens shoes contain soles of all colours, including red. We are ready to provide unassailable evidence that we have been using coloured soles, especially red, before Mr Christian Louboutin popularised his.”
The French cobbler trademarked his red soles in America in 2008, and rumour has it that his signature scarlet sole came about after he borrowed a colleague’s red nail varnish to lacquer the base of a shoe he was working on because it needed “a little something”.
On Friday it emerged that the shoe designer was seeking $1m in damages from luxury label Yves Saint Laurent and court action to prevent the company manufacturing similar red-soled designs and selling them in New York boutiques.
The cases continue.
