Philipp Plein may be a brand favoured by the nouveaux riches, but he is definitely not considered by the fashion industry (and in particular by the most respected fashion critics and commentators) as an original, talented or skilled designer.
His collections are indeed veritable excesses of bling, with quite a few designs often copied from other sources and a testoterone filled mood perennially hanging in the air at his extravagant fashion runways. There have been indeed sports cars and tractors on his runways, while Chris Brown (accused of rape, sexual battery and assault) appeared at Plein's S/S18 fashion show with American rapper Daniel Hernandez, better known as Tekashi 6ix9ine, who pled guilty to using a 13-year-old child in a sexual performance in 2015, and was arrested in November 2018 on racketeering and firearm charges.
Plein's official Instagram account is also an embarrassing guide to an ostentatious lifestyle of luxury without elegance that the leader of a criminal organisation may like: in between his over the top crystal studded clothes, skintight tops and tracksuits with prominent logos, you can see several photographs and videos of his luxury cars, including a Lamborghini and a Ferrari.
In a recent post he showed a limited edition pair of Plein's $800-plus Phantom Kick$ sneakers on top of his green Ferrari 812 Superfast, the two products perfectly matching for their emerald shade.
But there are also photographs and a video of him and some scantily clad ladies washing cars and, well, playing around with sponges and water, or provocatively posing on and around the Ferrari.
Mind you, Plein's Instagram page is not just about semi-naked women and trashy clothes: in mid-July Plein also posted cringing pictures and videos showing him and former Italian right-wing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Yes, you got it right, that Silvio Berlusconi, a man responsible for twenty years of Italian decadence who never saw women for their brains but for their bosoms, legs and bottoms, and who left behind him a country in a deep crisis and lots of memories of his involvement in a series of sex scandals with under age girls, escorts, showgirls, beauty contest winners and such likes.
Plein has recently forged a partnership with Berlusconi's current football team, AC Monza (Plein also sponsors AS Monaco and AS Roma) and will supply the players and the management with classical suits, shirts, coats, trenchcoats and with various accessories including shoes and belts.
In the videos on Instagram Berlusconi and the fashion designer show mutual appreciation, while during the press conference Adriano Galliani, Monza's CEO, stated that the brand perfectly fits the team for "its aggressive lifestyle".
This joint venture seems a match made in heaven between a sleezy designer and a sleezy and fascist out of fashion politician, but if you look at the images and videos on Plein's Instagram you wonder how can certain things be allowed in the era of #MeToo.
Yet, while nobody seems scandalised at the way Plein displays and exploits the female body, another brand unexpectedly hit back at him: Ferrari sent a letter to the designer, asking to stop putting his products next to its cars (note: the cars are owned by Plein and he paid for them with his money, but this doesn't have anything to do with Ferrari's request).
The designer obviously posted the letter on his Instagram account to show how he had been unfairly attacked. The letter states that in some of the pictures on his site "Ferrari's trademarks are used again for promotional purposes of your brands and products, unlawfully appropriating the goodwill attached to them."
The letter continues telling the designer that "Ferrari's trademarks and model cars are associated in your pictures with a lifestyle totally inconsistent with Ferrari's brand perception, in connnection with performers making sexual innuendos and using Ferrari's cars as props in a manner which is per se distasteful."
Before closing with a request to remove the images within 48 hours, the company highlights that the designer's behaviour "tarnishes the reputation of Ferrari's brands and causes Ferrari further material damage." The company's legal team highlighted indeed in the same letter that "The undesired connection between Ferrari's trademarks on the one hand, and Philipp Plein's line of shoes (and the questionable manner in which they are promoted) on the other hand, is interfering negatively with the rights enjoyed by Ferrari's selected licensees, which are exclusively entitled to sue Ferrari's trademarks to produce and promote line of shoes Ferrari branded."
Plein took the story to Instagram, shared the letter on the social network and accused Ferrari of blackmailing him, adding "I can't even put in words how disappointed and disgusted I am about this unfair and totally inappropriate claim against me personally."
Yet Ferrari has the right to act in this way as it is the holder of a registered trademark in Italy and can therefore prevent third parties from using identical or similar trademarks. Plein's images show the legally-protected Ferrari logo and could lead consumers to believe that the company and the fashion designers are launching a collaboration for Plein's shoes and this would therefore lead to trademark infringement claims as Ferrari holds trademark rights and registrations for its name and logo for use on shoes, plus it holds over 60 license deals (that allow other companies to make products with the Ferrari name and logo).
So, while Ferrari's request may sound bizarre to people who don't know much about law and who may claim that Plein is the legitimate owner of the cars he has photographed so he can do with them whataver he wants, well, such a request is actually appropriate as there may be a trademark infringement case here.
Rather than turning to his lawyers for legal advice, Plein took things on a personal level and for the last few days he has launched an offensive on Ferrari, accusing the company of blackmailing him and inviting his fans to take pictures of his shoes on luxury cars and share them on social media.
This is in a way a bit of a ridiculous request: Ferrari's letter mainly refers to Plein's shoes alongside a Ferrari logo, but other Instagram users have been taking pictures of assorted shoes or Plein's shoes with Mercedes Benz, BMW, Porsche or Ford cars. And while the first three companies also hold trademark and licences for footwear, Ford does not produce shoes, so in this case there is no legal trademark infringement case (besides, you may argue, these users do not own a proper fashion company and do not lead a grand lifestyle, therefore they don't have the number of followers Plein does have, so if they would post a pair of designer shoes with a luxury car, the car company wouldn't probably care). So before defending Plein, fans of the designer and of social media should maybe study how to make some key legal distinctions.
The saddest rection Plein had so far, though, refers to Ferrari CEO Louis Camelleri, that he accused in another post of "of dating a pornstar Savanna Samson" and of having "paid tons of money to clean up the internet to hide it". Well, Samson, whose real name is Natalie Oliveros, is actually a retired pornstar, she is currently better known for producing wines in Italy, and there are quite a few interviews with her in which she openly talks about her past, her career in the porn film industry and her relationship with Camelleri, so these are not secrets. It is instead despicable the way a designer who constantly uses sex to sell clothes attacks a woman for her past to take his personal revenge against a powerful company.
Hopefully, Plein will understand the difference between the fast and furious power of social media and the importance of trademark laws. It is indeed easy to take your revenge on social networks, but things may be more difficult when a case ends up in court and you have to prove your knowledge in trademark law in front of a judge.
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