Kanye West fans call out Forever 21 over ‘Pablo’ merchandise similarities

Is there more trouble ahead for Forever 21? Puma dubbed the fast-fashion retailer a threat to its entire business after originally alleging it copied some of Rihanna’s Fenty Puma designs. Now, Kanye West fans are calling out Forever 21 on social media for selling clothes that resemble West’s “The Life of Pablo” merchandise.

One Twitter user posted screenshots of four Forever 21 offerings, including a graffiti jacket and three T-shirts, on Thursday afternoon. The tweet gained traction as others on the platform took note of the similarities between the Forever 21 items and West’s highly popular “Life of Pablo” merch.

One of the Forever 21 items, a yellow T-shirt with black font, has “Saint Francis” printed on the front. West’s latest tour was called the Saint Pablo Tour, which was printed on most of his merch.

Another Forever 21 shirt, the “Aisle 316 Los Angeles Tee,” has “Los Angeles” printed vertically down the front in a way that resembles West’s Calabasas merch, a collaboration with Adidas. The Calabasas collection includes track pants with the word “Calabasas” running vertically alongside Adidas’ iconic three stripes. Forever 21’s “Aisle 316” shirt includes two stripes — a distinction that harkens back to Forever 21’s lawsuit against Adidas in March.

Forever 21 originally called Adidas a trademark “bully,” asserting that “Adidas has taken its [trademark-related] claims…too far — essentially asserting that no item of clothing can have any number of stripes in any location without infringing Adidas’ trademarks. To this end, Adidas has sued clothing and footwear manufacturers who have used two stripes. It has sued those who use four. It has sued over stripe patterns involving multiple widths and colors, and it has sued over garments Adidas is not known for making. It has also threatened to sue many others on similar claims.”

This is not the first time Forever 21 has been called out by West fans for copying his “Life of Pablo” merch. A similar instance happened over the summer, while West was gearing up for his tour. The “Life of Pablo” merch was a collaboration between Los Angeles-based graphic artist Cali Thornhill DeWitt and DONDA, West’s creative content company.

West, Forever 21 and Adidas have yet to comment on the similarities.

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