When Sneaker Brands Get “Inspired By” Creative Recreation

Did you catch the new Topman footwear leak this week? It features a sneaker that looks strangely similar to a Creative Recreation Dicoco Hi. Hmmm. Topman, we love you, but come on, this is not fair. You can’t just copy a sneaker and put it on sale for cheap. Creative Rec has a brand identity, and while they might not be big enough to come at you with a team of snarling lawyers, that doesn’t mean you can go in and take its designs.

All sneaker companies get ripped off (ever see fake AF1s in the hood?), but when a big company does it, it just looks bad. Hit the jump for other brands who have produced strangely similar kicks to Creative Rec. Yup, we see you…

310 Motoring Codsail (2007-current) vs. Creative Rec Cesario Lo (since 2004)
• The head honchos over at 310 were rumored to have offered the boys at CRec some $$$ for rights to the Cesario. When the bosses at Creative Recreation turned it down, 310 said something along the lines of, “That’s O.K., we’re going to do it anyway.”

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Gearex (Fall 2008) vs. Creative Rec Dicoco Hi (Since 2006)
• You could add Gearex to the long list of brands at the Magic Tradeshow who simply appropriate sneaker styles until a lawyer comes along and tells its designers to stop. Gearex, we’re telling you now: “Stop Stop Stop Stop.”

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Dior SNDC3075 (Fall 2009) vs. Creative Rec Milano Hi (Since 2007)
• If we say Dior is ripping off Creative Rec here, both our ad team and our fashion department will have a fit. So we’ll just say, “These look the same to us.”

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G Brand (2008) vs. Creative Rec Cesario Lo (Since 2004)
• Whatever this brand is, all we have to say is, “Go paint a house or something.”