Independent designers accuse Shein of extortion and intellectual property infringement

Chinese fast fashion giant Shein has been accused of "large-scale and systematic theft of the intellectual property of major and minor American designers" and of committing infringement-related extortion, The Fashion Law wrote.

Independent designers, Krista Perry, Larissa Martinez and Jay Baron claimed Shein is responsible for violating copyrights and trademarks in connection with "producing, distributing and selling exact copies of their creative works. This is an essential part of the design process and Shein's DNA, according to the designers, the media outlet added.

The designers filed their complaint in a US court last Tuesday. In their complaint, the designers argued that "there is no Coco Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent behind the Shein empire". Instead, there is a mysterious technical genius behind it who has made Shein "the best clothing company in the world through high-end technology and not high-end design," the notice read.

Specifically, Perry, Martinez and Baron claimed that Shein has "made billions of dollars by creating a secret algorithm that amazingly determines emerging fashion trends and linking it to a corporate structure, including manufacturing and fulfillment programme". This would also seamlessly comply with a variety of illegal elements.

The plaintiffs claimed "that the algorithm could not come to work without it generating the copies that could greatly harm an independent designer's career". "Shein's artificial intelligence is smart enough to misappropriate the pieces with the greatest commercial potential," the plaintiffs said, according to TFL.