Forever 21 continues to remain in the spotlight. The company has been known for selling knock-offs, and has been sued dozens of times by designers such as Diane von Furstenberg, Gwen Stefani, and Trovata. Apparently, Forever 21 hasn’t learned its lesson. According to today’s posting in Racked.com, Forever 21 is selling shoes with a logo on the insole of the shoe that looks similarly close to the YSL logo. Forever 21 has been selling shoes with this insole for quite some time now. Some are just starting to realize.

The comparison can be seen in the photo to the left:

Yves Saint Laurent was a famous French fashion designer with quite an interesting story. He started his career by submitting his fashion sketches in competitions at a young age. At the age of 15, he was noticed by the editor-in-chief of Vogue after entering the International Wool Secretariat competition. He later won first prize in this competition and at the age of 17 was hired as Christian Dior’s assistant. At the age of 21, he became the head designer of the House of Dior when Christian Dior died. YSL, the fashion house, was created a few years later. Today, YSL is known for creating the first classic tuxedo suit for women and for revolutionizing the idea of wearing silhouettes from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. He was also the first designer to use ethnic models in his runway shows, as well as for using ethnic themes in his garments. Yves Saint Laurent introduced so much into the fashion world. His line extended from ready-to-wear fashion to handbags, shoes, cosmetics, sunglasses, and perfumes. To see a retail company try to benefit from a great designer by copying the YSL logo and creating knock-offs of YSL products is heartbreaking.

This isn’t the first time Forever 21 has been “inspired” by YSL. Last year, Forever 21 introduced a shoe similar to the YSL’s caged booties. The first photo on the left shows the Forever 21 version of the shoe:

Compare it to YSL’s creation in the second photo on the right.

Forever 21, maybe you should hire designers who know the difference between taking a product and using it as inspiration, versus taking a product and copying it, or in this case, purposely try to cause consumer confusion.