Virgil Abloh recently earned himself a major milestone in fashion, joining designer brand Louis Vuitton as it's newest artistic director. Now Virgil is securing himself another bag, by reportedly going after a bunch of online sellers peddling cheap fakes of his clothing line, Off-White.
According to Complex, over 160 users of the e-commerce site Wish.com are being targeted in the lawsuit for allegedly selling fakes through the site. Virgil is asking for $2 million per infraction, so even if he isn't granted the whole amount, Virgil could still be walking away with a pretty hefty payday.
The total sales through Wish of all the sellers totals over $41 million, $1.2 of which was reportedly due to sales of fake Off-White.
There is a precedent for this kind of thing to happen, as New York streetwear brand Supreme recently won in a lawsuit against their own gaggle of scammers, seizing an estimated 120,000 pieces of fake gear in the process. A lot of people aren't able to afford expensive clothes from brands like Off-White or Supreme, and so a large black market of fake clothes has developed. A report from Adweek estimates that counterfeit goods is an industry worth $460 billion, and is entirely dependent on distribution through web stores like Wish or even Facebook.
If more lawsuits like this keep popping up, it's possible we might to see a dent form in the massive market of fakes. What do you guys think about fake clothes? Is it okay to wear some fake gear if you can't afford the real stuff?