Did Forever 21 Rip Off This Artist's Sketch and Turn It Into a T-Shirt?

By Joanna Rothkopf  |  September 29, 2015 | 10:10pm
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On Monday, artist Sam Larson posted the above photo on his Instagram account where he has 235,000 followers. Retail giant Forever 21, he claimed, had stolen one of his drawings from two years ago, applied some very light photoshopping, and passed it off as its own design.

The post has since gotten 11,300 likes and over 2,300 comments, a screenshot of the post has reached the front page of Imgur, and supporters have started plastering the brand’s Facebook page with the hashtag #PaySamLarson.

The chain has been sued over 50 times for allegedly stealing others’ work, and currently is fighting a lawsuit from H&M, which has sued for “copyright infringement, trade dress infringement, false designation of origin and unfair competition,” after Forever 21 copied a tote bag reading “Beach Please.”

“I put so much time and effort into my work to try to make it as a freelance artist and then companies do this,” Larson said in an interview with BuzzFeed.

Forever 21 did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Update: In an email to Jezebel, Forever 21 declined to provide a comment, noting they are unable to speak about “pending litigation.”

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