s s RETAIL: Misses’ ACCESSORIES: NEWS: category faces tough Pressing the Trovata, customers, page 12. reset button at Forever Baselworld,s 21 trial page 6. showdown, page 2. EYE: Eating right when eating out, s page 16. Women’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • April 13, 2009 • $3.00 WAccessories/Innerwear/LegwearwDMONdAY Material Girls High-interest fabrics were a major focus of some of fall’s most imaginative collections. And few were as intricate The Shifting Paradigm: as Laura and Kate Mulleavy’s construction site-inspired textiles for Rodarte. “We wanted to play with the idea of deconstructing a home,” Laura said. Their collection, a Rules Being Redefined beautiful collage of marbleized, distressed and laminated fabrics, mimicked everything from insulation to duct tape. Here, a marbleized silk tulle and green polyacrylic lamé For Fashion and Retail with a silver laminated linen. For more materials, see pages 4 and 5. By WWD Staff The old financial tricks and merchandising sleights of hand aren’t going to work anymore. Fashion companies were quick enough to cut expenditures, pare store openings and lean on suppliers to survive the first year of the recession and the start of the credit crisis. But shifting consumer values and brutal economic realities are forcing both the weak and strong to reconsider their reason for being and how they do business. The paradigm in fashion is shifting. Well- established consumer segments are all changing independently and the industry is scrambling to keep up. The proof is everywhere, from First Lady Michelle Obama’s penchant for J. Crew to Jil Sander’s transformation into fast-fashion maven and luxury’s nosedive. See Fashion’s, Page8 PHOTO BY THOMAS IANNACCONE; STYLED BY COURT WILLIAMS COURT THOMAS IANNACCONE; STYLED BY PHOTO BY 2 WWD, MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2009 WWD.COM Trovata, Forever 21 Suit Heading to Trial By David Lipke and stripes on a sweater would cause consum- ers to associate the garments with its brand, but WWDAccessories/Innerwear/LegwearMONDAY AFTER TWO YEARS OF LEGAL wranGLING, there is no evidence to suggest that consumers FASHION Trovata’s lawsuit alleging that cheap-chic re- would be confused,” said Bruce Brunda, an at- tailer Forever 21 copied its designs is headed torney for Forever 21. “Forever 21’s products are 4 Designers rolled out fall collections featuring to trial next month, and the outcome could have only sold in Forever 21 stores and are labeled materials and techniques that showed the technical implications for both vendors and retailers in with Forever 21’s brand. The design features on prowess of the mills and their creativity. this age of fast fashion. the Trovata designs are rather generic and are Barring a last-minute settlement, lawyers fa- not protected by copyrights.” GENERAL miliar with Forever 21’s extensive litigation his- The trial is scheduled to begin May 7 in U.S. 1 Shifting consumer values and brutal economic tory said this would be the first time the rapidly District Court in Santa Ana, Calif. realities are forcing the weak and strong to expanding retailer faces a jury that will deter- “It’s a difficult case, and they are putting up reconsider their market and how they do business. mine whether it illegally clones other companies’ a substantial fight, but we believe that Forever After two years of legal wrangling, Trovata’s designs. The result could be a clarification of in- 21 willfully and intentionally copied the designs 2 tellectual property rights in an era when facsimi- of our client, in violation of a number of laws,” lawsuit alleging that cheap-chic retailer Forever 21 les of runway looks often appear in multinational said Frank Colucci, a lawyer for Newport Beach, copied its designs is headed to trial next month. specialty chains before a designer’s original ver- Calif.-based Trovata. JEWELRY: From redefining core values to scaling s 6 sion has a chance to hit stores. A separate lawsuit Anthropologie filed against back collections and points of sale, brands at The federal court case involves seven gar- Forever 21 does include allegations of copyright Baselworld were pressing the reset button. ments Forever 21 sold in its stores in 2007, said violations, as the Urban Outfitters-owned chain to look identical, or almost identical, to garments said Forever 21 copied a number of its patterns. 11 FINANCIAL: Well-positioned vendors unable to get designed by Trovata and publicized on the run- In a March 13 order in the case, U.S. District traditional bank loans could get some financial way or in magazines. One Forever 21 garment Court Judge Michael Dolinger in Manhattan breathing room through securitizations. also had an inside label that was a near repre- reprimanded Forever 21 for deceptive conduct 12 The downturn among misses’ specialty store sentation of Trovata’s distinct label at the time. during the discovery phase. He added, “We note retailers, which began almost 18 months ago, Trovata’s attorneys argued the alleged copy- the extraordinary litigating history of this com- might lag an eventual recovery. ing of the designs constituted trade dress in- pany, which raises the most serious questions as fringement. Trade dress is the legal term for the to whether it is a business that is predicated in The Dior Christal EYE tourbillon set visual appearance of a product that links it to a large measure on the systematic infringement of A few of New York’s top nutritionists were asked particular brand in consumers’ minds. Trovata, competitors’ intellectual property.” with Siam rubies 16 and diamonds. to pick healthy, but still satisfying, meals at four which is headed by founder and designer John Gregory Gulia, an attorney for Anthropologie, fashion-favored eateries. 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MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE. Forever 21 shirts are top row and Trovata shirts are bottom row. Whitledge, is seeking a multimillion-dollar said he believes Forever 21 is willing to risk the award for actual and punitive damages. lawsuits because duplicating designer looks is a DAILY This is the deepest Unlike other suits brought against Forever lucrative business strategy. Forever 21 has been “ 21 in recent years by companies such as Diane sued more than 50 times for copyright infringe- QUOTE consumer retrenchment I von Furstenberg, Anna Sui, BeBe Stores and ment in the last three years. The retailer has Anthropologie, the Trovata suit does not allege settled such cases out of court. have ever witnessed. It’s like someone turned copyright violations. Under current law, only Robert Powley, an attorney for Forever 21 in original prints or graphics on clothes can be the Anthropologie case, said copying of designs out the lights and the world changed. copyrighted — as they are considered artwork — is rampant in the fashion industry, with vintage and Trovata’s suit focuses on Forever 21’s copy- garments used by many designers as reference — Allen Questrom on the economic downturn.