LVMH-owned luxury house Loro Piana has notched another legal victory in its multi-year campaign to protect its signature White Sole footwear, after the Court of Turin ordered French online retailer Parijan SAS to halt production and sales of shoes ruled to be copies of the brand’s designs.
The preliminary ruling, issued on May 12 but made public only in recent days, targets four Parijan styles, including models marketed under the names “Monaco Old Money” and “Old Money Premium Suede Loafers.” The court also barred Parijan from making any commercial use of the Loro Piana and White Sole names, extending a winning streak the Italian brand has built since it first moved to defend the line in 2022.
Judge Ludovico Sburlati found that Parijan’s footwear went well beyond drawing inspiration from Loro Piana’s “Summer Walk” and “Open Walk” designs, which date to 2003 and 2005 respectively, and instead replicated the entire design formula that defines the collection. That formula, according to the ruling, combines a pale rubber sole set against a suede upper, a soft and unstructured shape, a faux welt, matching-color stitching, and a distinctive ridged outsole.
Rather than assessing each design element in isolation, the court weighed how the features function together, concluding that a product’s overall look can identify its maker in much the same way a logo does. That reasoning echoes Loro Piana’s earlier wins in Turin and in Bari against Mnswr Group, reinforcing a broader legal argument the brand has advanced since 2022: that the cumulative silhouette of the White Sole line, rather than any single patentable feature, constitutes its protectable identity in the eyes of Italian courts.
Parijan had argued that its shoes differed from Loro Piana’s originals in construction and quality, but the court rejected that defense, noting that online shoppers rarely register such distinctions and instead base purchasing decisions largely on appearance and price. The judge determined that consumers would view Parijan’s designs as lower-cost substitutes for the originals, allowing the retailer to capitalize commercially on a reputation built by Loro Piana over more than two decades.
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The ruling also scrutinized Parijan’s marketing tactics, pointing to its partnerships with influencers associated with Loro Piana, including social media figure Gstaad Guy, as evidence that its footwear was positioned deliberately as a cheaper alternative to the luxury label. The Court of Turin ordered Parijan to pay 1,000 euros for every day it fails to comply with the injunction, plus 500 euros for each item sold in breach of the order, and to reimburse Loro Piana for its legal costs.
The decision arrives as European courts show growing willingness to protect the overall appearance of a product rather than requiring brands to prove infringement of a single design patent or trademark. Legal observers have flagged that shift as a significant precedent for luxury houses navigating an online dupe market that continues to expand rapidly, fueled by social media and influencer marketing that often blurs the line between homage and outright imitation.
Loro Piana’s White Sole line, anchored by the Summer Walk and Open Walk styles, has become one of the house’s most recognizable products and a frequent target for copycats given its minimalist design and premium price positioning. The brand’s repeated recourse to litigation, now spanning multiple Italian jurisdictions since 2022, signals a deliberate enforcement strategy that other luxury groups are likely to study closely as they weigh their own responses to the fast-growing dupe economy.
Industry watchers say the ruling could embolden other heritage brands to pursue similar “look and feel” claims rather than relying solely on narrower trademark or patent protections, particularly for products whose recognition depends on a distinctive silhouette rather than a logo. With dupe culture increasingly amplified by social platforms, courts weighing the totality of a design’s presentation, rather than isolated technical features, may become a more common legal battleground across the fashion and footwear sectors in the years ahead.
Neither Loro Piana nor Parijan issued immediate public statements following the ruling’s disclosure.