Ivanka Trump has been deemed as not too important and not too busy to testify in a lawsuit about whether or not Ivanka’s company ripped off a shoe design from Aquazzura Italia SRL. As a result of the federal lawsuit from the Italian shoe company, which was filed on behalf of Aquazzura on June 21, 2016, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ruled on Friday in Manhattan that Ivanka will have to testify for two hours about the accusations of Ivanka’s company knocking off the shoe design.
According to Google Trends , the news sent terms like “Aquazurra Wild Thing” and “Wild Thing Stiletto” surging in their search engine, no doubt with folks typing the “Aquazzura Wild Thing Trump” phrase into Google wondering just how similar the shoe designs appeared. As seen in the below photo from social media, which compares Aquazzura’s “Wild Thing” stiletto sandal to Ivanka’s “Hettie” sandal, the designs are so similar that it’s is hard to tell the two shoe designs apart.
Aquazzura believes Ivanka’s company knowingly stole their “Wild Thing” shoe design and sold the knockoff for a cheaper price in Ivanka’s fashion collection. According to Bloomberg , Ivanka couldn’t escape questions in the lawsuit because Ivanka is too busy as a White House “high-ranking government official.” After all, Ivanka wasn’t too busy to swing her daughter around and play with her children during the recent congressional picnic at the White House, as reported by the Inquisitr .
The Aquazzura “ Wild Thing ” shoe was ripped off by Ivanka’s “Hettie” model, according to the lawsuit, and according to photos like the above one from Twitter, users claim that Ivanka will likely lose this lawsuit. Aquazzura’s “Wild Thing” shoe is priced at $785, with the soft suede sandal available in a “vivid lipstick red” color with fringe at the front and “sensuous ties that wrap around the ankle” adorned with “flirty tassels.”
Ivanka’s “Hettie” design looks similar, and so does one from Steve Madden . Nevertheless, Ivanka must answer to the similarity between her shoes and those from Aquazzura, even though Ivanka claimed she had no dealings with creating the shoe with her name stamped in gold letters on them.
“I had no involvement in the conception, design, production or sale of the ‘Hettie Shoe.’”
Ready for romance with the ‘First Kiss Sandal’! Available at https://t.co/ZDVKPXGqAn @aquazzura @aquazzuraboutiques @saks #aquazzura pic.twitter.com/ypTOxqmIUW
— AQUAZZURA (@aquazzura) June 25, 2017
Ivanka’s attorneys tried to get the president of Ivanka’s IT Collection, Abigail Klem, to sit for Aquazzura’s questions. But Ivanka must answer the questions by October. Aquazzura’s attorneys pointed to an interview in 2012, wherein Ivanka claimed she is deeply involved in the design of her shoes.
“Individually, I focus not only on brand position and the direction of any given collection, but also on the individual product. There’s not a shoe I’m not intimately involved in designing.”
Aquazzura said Ivanka’s $130 “Hettie” knocked off the more expensive “Wild Thing” design of the four-inch heels.
[Featured Image by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images]
