Posting Photos Of His Shoes On Top Of His Ferrari On Instagram, A Fashion Designer Might Be Sued

What Philipp Plein – the fashion designer from Germany is doing with the Italian luxury cars of Ferrari has irritated the brand. Recently, Plein has made a series of posts on Instagram, saying that he might be sued by Ferrari as he Instagrammed photos of his sneakers on top of his personal supercar. The car brand claims that the behavior of Plein “tarnishes the reputation of Ferrari’s brands and causes Ferrari further material damage.”

Moreover, in the letter Ferrari sent to Plein, the company says that Plein is using the trademarks of Ferrari to promote his own brand and products. The cars appearing in the photos belong to Plein. Fundamentally, Ferrari is claiming that the designer is exploiting the iconic imagery of the car brand to promote his own brand as well as to denigrate Ferrari.

The mentioned photo and several other photos featuring Ferrari’s cars have not been deleted yet although the lawyers from Ferrari said that they would bring a lawsuit against Plein in two days after the letter is received.

About Plein, he is calling Ferrari’s letter “blackmail,” and he has also asked whoever follows his account to send in photos (with his shoes on the hood of Ferrari’s cars). The designer even created a slideshow in which there were photos from his followers. He is positioning the fight to be not only between the luxurious sports car manufacturer and his own shoe brand.

According to The Fashion Law, the Italian carmaker could possibly make a sound argument, considering the actual legitimate case.

Carmine Rotondaro, who is Plein’s independent legal adviser, said to Bloomberg and called the accusations of the sports car brand “totally baseless.” It remains unclear whether the carmaker is following its plans to go with the lawsuit or not.