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Though she’s only been in the shoe game a couple of years, one footwear designer thinks that Ivanka Trump has stepped on some pretty big toes.
WWD reports that the new mom, who also helms an eponymous jewelry collection, received a cease-and-desist letter from Derek Lam, who claims one of her designs is an exact replica of his.
“We have seen very similar copies before but we have never seen a shoe that perfectly copied,” Jan-Hendrik Schlottmann, chief executive officer of Derek Lam, told WWD. The shoe in question, a $150 Cadie wedge from the Ivanka Trump Footwear Collection, is said to be knock-off of Lam’s $780 “Ayami” design (for a side by side comparison, click here.)
But Marc Fisher Footwear, the collection’s distributor, strongly denies the claims.
“The Lam wedge sandals are of a popular design type that has been used by numerous manufacturers for many decades,” the company says in a statement. “There is nothing iconic about the appearance of the Lam sandal.”
As for Lam’s lawyer’s insistence that Trump’s Cadie wedge “mimic each unique design detail,” the licensee says there are discernable differences. “The Ivanka Trump sandals prominently display the Ivanka Trump name, and there can be no confusion as to the source of the Ivanka Trump sandals.”
The designer has reportedly given Trump seven business days to pull the shoe off the market.
When reached on Thursday, representatives for Derek Lam said they are “no longer commenting on this matter.”
–Justine Harman
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Original - http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2011/12/22/ivanka-trump-denies-copying-...
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