Skims Sued by Designer Over Name Hijacking Claims

A small New York designer has taken on 's billion-dollar Skims empire – accusing the brand of copying her name and transforming it into a $700 million cash machine.

The explosive lawsuit claims Skims pushed ahead with its 'Fits Everybody' collection despite repeated warnings from little-known apparel brand Fits Everybody To A T, which says it had already secured rights to the name.

Court documents seen by the Daily Mail accuse Kardashian's $5 billion trendy brand of using its celebrity power to dominate the market despite not owning the trademark.

According to the complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, Skims launched the line 'after receiving repeated, unequivocal notice' of the smaller brand's rights – before expanding it into one of its most successful collections.

'A company with fewer resources might have reconsidered upon receiving such notice,' the filing states.

'But Defendant, backed by the personal fortune and celebrity platform of Kim Kardashian, had no reason to reconsider.

'Defendant believes it could simply outspend, out-market, and outlast any legal challenge from a small business owner.'

The lawsuit goes further, describing the case as 'a textbook example of intentional infringement by a massively resourced junior user against a vulnerable senior user'. 

The battle over the trademark has been going on behind the scenes for years but has only now reached the courts.   

Owner of Fits, Denise Cesare, 61, has been selling swimwear and clothing under the name for almost a decade, with Kardashian, 45, launching Skims in 2019.

The claim pits Kardashian's female-empowered brand against what the lawsuit describes as 'a small, self-funded woman-owned business'.

Cesare's team argues that the similarity between the names is the issue, making it likely shoppers will assume the brands are connected.

Her attorney Jessica Mathews told the Daily Mail: 'The complaint, which is publicly available, tells the story of our client – a small, self-funded business founded and run by Denise Cesare, its sole owner and operator.

'She built her brand from the ground up, years before SKIMS entered the market.

'What followed, as alleged, is a textbook case of reverse confusion: a far larger, celebrity-backed company adopting a confusingly similar name and rapidly saturating the market through scale, advertising, and the cultural reach of its co-founder, Kim Kardashian.'

Their complaint goes further, accusing Skims of leveraging its 'overwhelming financial resources, celebrity connections, and marketing machine' to 'swamp and eclipse' the smaller brand.

Cesare even claims her business has been pushed so far down search engine rankings as to be 'effectively invisible.'

The filing also alleges Skims 'continued and expanded its use' of the name even after receiving objections, including launching new products and marketing campaigns.

At the center of the dispute is Skims's hugely lucrative 'Fits Everybody' line, a signature range of shapewear and underwear promoted by Kardashian and .

Skimsis now valued at $5 billion, Forbes reported in November