Fast Fashion Retailer Shein Accused of Ripping Off Indie Brand Valfré

In May 2017, Jezebel reported that Los Angeles-based indie brand Valfré, founded by Mexican-born artist and designer Ilse Valfre, sent a cease and desist to Forever 21 and Rue 21 for apparently lifting their designs. And it looks like the bullshit continues: Valfre says that online fast-fashion retailer Shein, known for low-cost, on-trend clothing, is now guilty of the same.

Ilse Valfre tells Jezebel that her brand began to see similarities between their products and those on Shein’s site after “customers started sending us photos through Instagram and email, alerting us to the identical copies of our product. We just contacted our attorney immediately, in order to take the proper steps.” There are five products in question that look suspiciously alike—the “Get Lost” t-shirts, as well as two additional graphic tees, a sweatshirt, and a phone case:

Once again, Valfré on the left, Shein on the right:

According to Valfre, her brand has filed a complaint against Shein. She released the following statement:

“First and foremost Valfré has always been an art brand, it grew out of my love of comics and illustrating. In a world of fast fashion and disposable everything, we always tried put our relationship with our fans first, which meant making time to create meaningful art-centric pieces inspired by the world around me. To see my artwork being re-used by yet another fast fashion company, shows how little they care about artistic vision and meaningful designs.”