Forever 21 accused of copying independent brand’s fashion designs

The two designs are almost identical.

Emily Oberg, the brains behind independent fashion label, Sporty & Rich, has called out Forever 21 for imitating her designs. Sporty & Rich, a label which offers limited-edition hoodies, t-shirts and totes, came to fruition two years ago with Emily also running a magazine to accompany the brand, also entitled Sporty & Rich. According to Fashionista, Emily was alerted to the strikingly similar hoody design when an Instagram follower got in touch to let her know. Emily then shared the image to her the Sporty & Rich Instagram account with the caption: "when Forever 21 copies you".

When @forever21 copies you ❤️

A photo posted by @sportyandrich on Aug 8, 2016 at 7:36am PDT

Forever 21's white hoody is emblazoned with the words "Smart & Pretty" while Emily's design carried the slogan, also the brand's name, "Sporty & Rich". Speaking to Refinery 29 about her feelings on the alleged knock-off design, Emily explained:

"At first, I didn't really care because my followers and customers know it's wack and they would never support a lamer version of my brand. "But after talking to people, I realized this is a bigger issue, and I should take some sort of legal action against them. Ideally, I'd sue and they'd settle out of court and take down the design. But the fact that publications are shedding light on this issue is good enough for me. They know what they did, and so does everyone else".

— Karlita (@karlaaadee) August 6, 2016

This Forever 21 debacle follows the recent Zara controversy where the brand was accused of copying Tuesday Bassen's illustrations and you can read more on that here.