If you thought that Donald Trump had a bad habit of suing people who he felt wronged him (both publicly and imaginary), then you haven’t been keeping up with Nike the past few years. The Swoosh has brought the legal smoke to any and everyone who they felt infringed on their multimillion-dollar products.
From sneaker customizers like The Shoe Surgeon to other brands such as New Balance and Skechers, no one is safe as long as Nike has a high-powered legal team that is making sure no one makes any kind of bank off of their silhouettes and designs without proper approval. Unfortunately, Edison Chen has become the latest person to learn this lesson the hard way. But it has nothing to do with him bootlegging, biting or even reselling their products.
According to Sneaker News, Nike is suing Edison Chen for $126,500 alleging that the CLOT founder breached his contract and failed to pay for goods and services provided to him by Nike. Though it was initially believed to be a $126 million lawsuit due to a clerical error, the actual amount was corrected to just over $125,000. He took the L in a court of law, but that clerical correction is a helluva sigh of relief for the defendant.
While Chen and his CLOT brand had been a part of the Nike family since 2006, his departure to adidas must’ve rubbed Nike the wrong way, as they’ve come for the chicken feed they feel he owes them and as we all know by now, Nike’s legal team isn’t familiar with the term “took an L” (unless they have the Nike SNKRS app).
Per Sneaker News:
Edison Chen has been with adidas since October of 2023 and released his first collection with the Three Stripes in February of 2024. Prior to that, he dropped over thirty different Nike x CLOT sneakers over nearly two decades with the Swoosh, dating back to 2006. Despite the somewhat awkward timing of Chen’s departure – just a few months removed from the CLOT What The Dunk release – neither party has had anything overly critical to say about one another. There’s little known about the lawsuit thus far, only the case number (2:25-cv-07447), cause (28:1332 Diversity-Breach of Contract), and demand ($126,615,000, per @SneakerLegal).
Again, we’re sure Chen is relieved that the actual number is $126,000 instead of $126 million because chances are Nike will once again emerge victorious.
What do y’all think about Nike going after any and everyone they feel wronged them in any way, shape or form? Let us know in the comments section below.