Ferrari Threatens To Sue Fashion Designer For Advertising His Shoes On Top Of His ₦127m Sports Car

According to the cease and desist letter that fashion designer Philipp Plein recently received from Ferrari, the italian automaker’s lawyers wants him to delete an Instagram post that showed his sneakers on the bonnets of his two parked Ferraris.

I mean the one that features a limited edition pair of Plein’s $800-plus PHANTOM KICK$ sneakers sitting atop of Plein’s $350,000-plus green Ferrari 812 Superfast, with Ferrari’s word mark and legally-protected prancing horse logo front and center.

The letter reads:
“Ferrari’s trademarks and model cars are associated in your pictures with a lifestyle totally inconsistent with Ferrari’s brand perception, in connection with performers making sexual innuendos and using Ferrari’s cars as props in a manner which is per se distasteful,”

“This behavior tarnishes the reputation of Ferrari’s brands and causes Ferrari further material damage,”

“In fact, the undesired connection between Ferrari’s trademarks on the one hand, and Philipp Plein’s line of shoes (and the questionable manner in which they are promoted) on the other hand, is interfering negatively with the rights enjoyed by Ferrari’s selected licensees which are exclusively entitled to use Ferrari’s trademarks to product and promote line of shoes Ferrari branded.”

The letter concluded by threatening legal action and demanding that Plein take down the post within 48 hours.

In his Instagram post on Monday, Plein, who has opted not to remove the images despite the threats from Ferrari, stated,
“I can’t even put in words how disappointed and disgusted I am about this unfair and totally inappropriate claim against me personally,” noting that he purchased his first Ferrari 10 years ago and remains a “good client” of Ferrari.

“If you want to continue treating your loyal clients with such letters from your lawyers, you will lose the support from many Ferrari fans.”

Plein concluded by saying:
“My lawyers will go hard and I will make every step public until FERRARI stops bullying their clients,”