YVES SAINT LAURENT has settled its lawsuit against parody T-shirt company What About Yves. The French house took exception to the production of merchandise bearing the words "Ain't Laurent Without Yves" in reaction to creative director Hedi Slimane's decision to rebrand the company without the founder's forename, asserting that the items were guilty of "trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false designation of origin, and unfair competition".
What About Yves. You may recall that YSL filed suit against the company and its founder, Jeanine Heller, this past April for manufacturing and selling t-shirts and sweatshirts that read, Ain’t Laurent Without Yves. The Paris-based company, which dropped the “Yves” from the name of its revamped ready-to-wear collection in 2012 when creative director Hedi Slimane came on board, alleged claims of trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false designation of origin, and unfair competition.
Things got interesting when after YSL sent Heller a number of letters alerting her of such intellectual property charges. According to YSL’s complaint, which was filed in the Southern District of New York court, after a number of letters that YSL sent Heller on the matter went unanswered, Heller finally reached out to the design house's counsel, denied any wrongdoing, and offered to sell her Ain't Laurent Without Yves trademark to them. (Yes, Heller filed to federally register the mark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office but was ultimately rejected due to its similarity to a number of existing trademarks belonging to YSL). All the while, Heller continued to sell the allegedly infringing t-shirts to retailers including famed Paris boutique, Colette, with which YSL ultimately cut ties as a result of its stocking of the t-shirt.
After settling a similar lawsuit with Chanel this past year (even though the shirts at issue
YSL has been bombarded with complaints from dissatisfied fans after unveiling the new Saint Laurent Paris logo on Facebook earlier this week. The brand shared a photo of a box bearing the new logo on their official page - which, despite receiving almost 3,000 Likes so far, has attracted a slew of negative comments.
"Hard to believe such a poor decision has been made, which can only damage the brand," says Chris Dickman, while Molly McGlew adds: "This is so boring and genuinely disappointing."
"Go back to the old logo, the new one lacks imagination," comments Adi Elias. "I'm not a fan of the new logo, but I can see what the brand was aiming for," adds Lucy Geremin. "But I really do think the Yves or Y was quite important and iconic. The new logo doesn't represent the same brand to me."
But not everyone shares the same view: "What Hedi proposes is both new and old, looking forward but with respect for the old," comments Nick Byrne. "YSL and the full name in the same script were only used for Haute Couture. The ready-to-wear used the same typeface which Hedi has proposed."
"Very fresh, modern, contemporary... of the moment," adds Ian Edwards. "It speaks of an austere, inconspicuous, but highly elegant luxury."
Heller has had a busy year in litigation, after Chanel took issue with a double C-printed T-shirt that she was selling - a case that was also settled out of court. She currently still retails the double C print - along with parodies of the Dior, Hermès and LVMH logos - so it's unlikely that this is the last time we'll hear her name in connection with trademark-infringement accusations.
The settlement comes at a time when the fashion industry is debating the future of Yves Saint Laurent creative director Slimane, despite repeated assertions by the brand that he is going nowhere. The designer is said to have personally objected to the What About Yves pieces so strongly that he chose to withdraw the entire Saint Laurent collection from Parisian boutique Colette in 2013, simply because it also carried the parody sweaters.
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