“Dear Madewell, I am not sure why you would need to use my name and my trademark … Please take my name out of your ads.” This is what California-based designer Jesse Kamm had to say – in an Instagram post on Tuesday – upon learning that when you Google her name, the results consist of her signature high-waisted “Kammpants,” as well as lookalike trousers from Madewell.

Lorde is calling out Kanye for copying. On Monday, the New Zealand-born musician posted images on Instagram from Kanye West and Kid Cudi’s recent performance at the Camp Flog Gnaw festival in Los Angeles, pointing to the similarity of the duo’s set design – they performed inside a transparent rectangle-shaped box (pictured above), accented with florescent lights at certain points, flames at others, and suspended above the stage throughout – and one that she utilized for her 2017 Coachella festival performance and her subsequent Melodrama world tour.

Ian Rogers, the former Apple executive who joined Paris-based luxury good conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton as its chief digital officer in 2015 (thereafter spearheading the group’s multi-brand e-commerce platform, 24 Sèvres and other aspects of the Louis Vuitton, Dior, Celine, and Givenchy parent company’s digital presence), talked to Wired about what “selling luxury” really entails and where marketing is going …

Two Georgia-based companies have agreed to settle an ongoing Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) investigation over their marketing methods for a Zika-specific insect. According to the FTC, Creaxion, an Atlanta-based public relations firm, was hired by insect repellent-maker Fit Organic to promote its products during the 2016 Zika virus outbreak, which coincided with the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. In doing so, Creaxion “partnered with Inside Publications, [the] publisher of Inside Gymnastics magazine, to obtain athlete endorsers and otherwise promote the product.”

In the wetlands, river gravels and dry hillsides of New Zealand grows a shrub-like plant known for its sharp-tipped leaves and flurries of fragrant, eye-catching white or pink-flushed flowers. These ever-green plants – which are native to the Trans-Tasman region and known as Leptospermum scoparium to biologists and horticulturists – are commonly known as the source of Manuka honey, the highly-regarded product celebrated for its powerful antibacterial qualities.  

You know those customized Vans and Nike sneakers with Louis Vuitton Toile Monogram-accented bodies that have saturated online marketplaces, such as Etsy, and that periodically serve as the subject of articles on highly-trafficked streetwear sites? How about the baseball caps with a Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami logo-covered brim? Louis Vuitton is not a fan. And in a recent case, the notoriously protective brand successfully made its argument against the legality of these “custom” products.  

“Proenza Schouler is pushing ahead with a new set of backers,” WWD revealed on Monday. Those backers? The brand’s founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, as well as “a new group of private investors have bought back.” The new deal – which sees private equity firm Castanea Partners, as well as investors, including  John Howard, chief executive officer of Irving Place Capital, and Andrew Rosen – exit the equation.

A little-known Chinese billionaire wants to challenge LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Qiu Yafu has been transforming the business of Chinese apparel giant Shandong Ruyi – which has traditionally been known for its textile manufacturing activities, with clients including Hugo Boss and Armani – into a conglomerate in its own right. The Shandong Ruyi chairman and controlling shareholder revealed on Monday that he is aiming to build a “globally renowned fashion powerhouse” to rival LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate.

“Louis Vuitton has invested millions of dollars and decades of time and effort to create consumer recognition in [its many] trademarks,” the Paris-based design house asserts in a new lawsuit, accusing a New York-based wholesaler of “willfully using [those marks] without [its] consent or authorization” in order to “improperly trade off and reap the benefits of the extensive goodwill associated with the Louis Vuitton brand, and Louis Vuitton’s world famous design marks.”