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# Did Karl Lagerfeld Steal a Sneaker Design?
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/balancing-act-sneaker-company-sues-karl-lagerfeld/
- Published: 2014-06-04T00:39:19.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:16:57.000Z
- Description: As mass-market fashion continues its longstanding tradition of ripping off independent designers, a twist in the narrative emerges: is a high-end designer now ripping off a mass-market company?
- Author: Jillian Steinhauer
- Tags: Opinion, Copyright, Fashion, Lawsuits, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![Left: New Balance sneakers (via us.asos.com); right: Karl Lagerfeld sneakers (via net-a-porter.com)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/06/newbalance-lagerfeld.jpg)

Left: New Balance sneakers (via us.asos.com); right: Karl Lagerfeld sneakers (via net-a-porter.com)

As mass-market fashion continues its longstanding tradition of ripping off independent designers, a twist in the narrative emerges: is a high-end designer now ripping off a mass-market company? The New Balance sneaker company has brought a lawsuit against Karl Lagerfeld, [TMZ has reported](http://www.tmz.com/2014/06/03/new-balance-karl-lagerfeld-sneaker-lawsuit/?ref=hyperallergic.com), for copying its trademark sneaker design. Whereas the New Balance sneakers we’ve all worn at one point have a large capital “N” on the side, Lagerfeld’s have a “K,” for Karl. (And whereas the New Balance sneakers retail from $60 upwards, Lagerfeld’s [cost $360](http://www.stylecaster.com/new-balance-suing-karl-lagerfeld/?ref=hyperallergic.com)). To my untrained eye, the design looks extremely similar but not quite identical; New Balance, however, claims it *is* identical and that consequently, “[this creates confusion](http://www.tmz.com/2014/06/03/new-balance-karl-lagerfeld-sneaker-lawsuit/?ref=hyperallergic.com).” In doing so, they offer a striking encapsulation of the contemporary late capitalist condition: am I buying a running shoe or am I buying a “[shock styling tactic](http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/mar/25/karl-lagerfeld-genius-modern-fashion-chanel?ref=hyperallergic.com)”? One may never know.