Balenciaga has been caught making copycat items once again. The Car-Freshener Corporation, which invented the scented trees hanging from rear-view mirrors in cars across the world, is suing the fashion giant for copying the tree design.
Little Tree Air Fresheners are globally recognised, and Balenciaga has cut the same shape from leather for use as key rings. Little Trees believes unsuspecting customers will confuse the two brands, and could end up with $275 key ring instead of a $3 air freshener.
The company patented the iconic evergreen design in 1952, and is suing Balenciaga for the money made from its keyrings. The copycat keyrings went on sale last month at Balenciaga’s New York store at Neiman Marcus.
This isn’t the first time Balenciaga has purportedly ripped off designs. The house’s SS18 collection in Paris had a normcore style focus, and included a shirt that was unbelievably close to an early 2000s Ruff Ryders shirt.
