The dilemma of the designer-name-brand came up this week, with Dries Van Noten reflecting on his impending departure from his eponymous label. In an interview with the New York Times, the Belgian designer, who sold a majority stake in his brand to Spanish fashion and beauty conglomerate Puig in 2018, said, “It’s scary. It’s a big void. It’s like, What is going to happen after, with my name?”, echoing a common question among designers who have launched – and subsequently left – brands that bear their names. Van Noten announced that he will part ways with his almost-40-year-old brand later this month.
There are plenty of cautionary tales about what it looks like – from a legal perspective – when a designer sells off his/her brand and ultimately, moves on. One of the most famous cases centers, of course, on Joseph Abboud, who famously landed in the middle of a legal battle after selling his namesake brand – trademark rights, included – to JA Apparel Corp. in 2000, and then launching a new menswear label, jaz, in 2007, which he marketed as “a new composition by designer Joseph Abboud.”
At stake in that case (and others like it) was Abboud’s ability to use his name in the context of a new fashion venture, and a New York federal district court ultimately enabled him to do so – albeit subject to certain conditions.
