Virgil Abloh's trendsetting label Off-White is being sued by New York-based creative and design agency OffWhite Productions LLC for trademark infringement, The Fashion Law reports.
According to the complaint filed in federal court on Sunday, OffWhite has been publicly operating under its registered trademark name since the late '90s, which precedes Abloh's launch of his Milan-based label in 2012. The agency claims they have maintained the website “offwhitedesign.com since July of 2001,” and have operated “an active Twitter account with the handle @offwhitedesign.”
The complainant asserts that the production company attempted to reach out to the streetwear brand to ask that Off-White “cease such infringing conduct," however, they allegedly “refused to alter [its] conduct whatsoever in response to these communications." OffWhite Productions also accused Abloh's company of continuing to file for new trademarks, including for a logo that's “unmistakably similar” to one of the agency's.
In addition to the claims above, OffWhite is alleging the fashion company is “steamroll[ing] its way over and past [OffWhite Productions’] superior and senior rights in the OFFWHITE trademark,” by “threatening to erect a commercial, branding, and legal roadblock to the expansion of [OffWhite Productions’] business.”
Abloh's Instagram was recently hacked, with the culprit directing followers to an account named “hype_______beast." The hacker, through Abloh's account, claimed that if the account reached 50K followers, Abloh would leak an unreleased Off-White sneaker. They later edited the post to state that if they accumulated 200K, they would drop an unreleased sneaker collection. The posts have since been deleted.
The trailblazing designer has received recognition and applause from nearly every corner of the fashion industry, although waves of backlash have also befallen the critically acclaimed creative. As both the men's Creative Director at Louis Vuitton and the head of Off-White, Abloh debuted two distinct fall collections during fashion week, both of which received adverse reactions from some notable figures within the fashion industry. In addition to plagiarism claims, Abloh was also accused of defiantly celebrating Michael Jackson's legacy in tandem with the release of the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland.
