Louboutin Miss Fred Tacco vs Steve Madden Becks
Manolo says, on the left you see the beautiful Miss Fred Tacco Boot from Christian Louboutin which the Manolo mentioned earlier today, retail price $695.
On the right you see the Steve Madden Becks patent leather bootie which was spotted by the Manolo’s internet friend Carrie, and priced at $149.95.
Clearly, the Louboutin has inspired the Madden shoe, although, if one looks closely, as our internet friend Cassandra has done…
Is it just me or is the picture on the Steve Madden link Carrie posted the same exact picture of Louboutin’s shoe, but with the red sole photoshopped out?
And that is indeed the exact conclusion of the Manolo, that the graphic designers at the Steve Madden have simply stolen the Saks Fifth Avenue picture, applied the computer, and… hey presto! It is now the Steve Madden shoe!
Of the course, the other Steve Madden Becks Booties, in the different colors, required slightly more complex photoshopping mad skillz…
Obviously, someone at the Steve Madden has taken the most unethical short cut to fooling the buyer
And naturally, this leaves the Manolo wondering exactly what the Becks looks like, not that he would purchase any shoe that so clearly ripped off the original, and is being sold by such scoundrels.
November 20th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Ugh. I think the yellow is the worst: http://zoomcc.richfx.com.edgesuite.net/zoomcc_stevemadden/image/media/BECKS_MUSTARD-SUEDE_zoom.jpg
It looks like a cartoon.
November 20th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
I’m confused. =-( Wait, how do you know the Laboutin didn’t photoshop the Madden? Oh what a vicious circle…
November 20th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
I was just going to comment with the same point as Heather! The mustard is oh so awful looking!
I suppose it’s a good thing that the Becks doesn’t come in the “Customize” option, because they do allow for a certain degree of heel customization… it’d be quite easy to duplicate the Louboutin.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:56 am
Pathetic. Knocking off the shoe is one thing but using the same photo is going too far. Send Madden back to jail.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:57 am
I always find it mystifying that recipes and fashion can not be copywrited, but “Happy Birthday” can. The lack of IP protection hardly seems to stop innovation.
However this is just tacky
November 21st, 2007 at 3:31 am
Eeeh? When I saw the other colours I thought the Manolo had cobbled it together himself in Photoshop, I was so surprised they are actually sold like this!
November 21st, 2007 at 8:24 am
i noticed it a while ago when they showed both on shoewawa
November 21st, 2007 at 9:33 am
Goodness, that is a horrible Shop. And one hell of a rip-off! Someone at Steve Madden should be very ashamed of themselves.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:50 am
I really wish there was a law that forbade direct ripoffs, without the words “inspired by (insert name here). Thanks for pointing this out.
November 21st, 2007 at 10:16 am
Carrie is absolutely correct—just look at the bow on the laces. It’s an easy thing to do in Photoshop, as the subsequent illustration shows. We can see it on internet catalogs and print catalogs when the item is being shown in 5 different colorways, all they did was use the process outlined above to show the same model wearing the same t-shirt in white, black, blue, red and pink.
November 21st, 2007 at 10:28 am
As long as I’m on my soapbox, I’ll say this:
This is one of the two major reasons I won’t buy anything from Steve Madden. The company makes these baffling and—indeed—unethical choices, including stealing ideas.
The other reason is that the shoes are just plain cheap and uncomfortable—to me anyway.
I wonder if Louboutin will litigate?
November 21st, 2007 at 11:38 am
Ayyy!
November 21st, 2007 at 11:39 am
I’m with enc — further proof that this company’s wares are not deserving of our hard-earned ducats. Fie on them!
November 21st, 2007 at 11:46 am
Hmm, Maybe I am the only one that didn’t know this fact, but upon looking up Steve Madden on Wikipedia, it seems that he is actually a criminal. He was apparantly convicted and sentenced to 41 months prison in 2002 for stock manipulation, money laundering, and securities fraud.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Madden
Better add design fraud to that list as well…
November 21st, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Steve Madden is truly the scummiest of scumballs, in my opinion. He has been known to tell *real* shoe designers, to their face, “I’m stealing your design.” Unfortunately, his unethical behavior is legal at this time.
November 21st, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Unethical indeed, since Mr. Madden recently spend time in jail. Let’s “footcott” Steve Madden shoes.
November 22nd, 2007 at 12:44 am
If you look at the picture of the green one it’s missing the reflection of the lace in the shiny part of the shoe. The other three pictures have the exact same reflection in different colors, but it’s missing in the green one altogether.
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
The shadows are the same. That’s the real tip off.
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:14 pm
wow- that really is pathetic… seems like a company like Steve Madden could have at least taken the time & budget to buy the original shoe, re-photograph it and THEN send it to their china factory to knock it off. However, in defense of the poor graphic artist who sold his sole (haha- pun intended) for his paycheck, it is rather tricky to add color INTO black in a photograph like that.
November 26th, 2007 at 11:11 am
[…] says, in case you may have missed this last week, the Manolo caught the shoe designer Steve Madde stealing the designs of the master Christian Louboutin, and also the photos used by the Saks department […]
November 28th, 2007 at 9:09 am
[…] 26th, 2007 @ 20:10 | Syndication Feeds Manolo says, in case you may have missed this last week, the Manolo caught the shoe designer Steve Madde stealing the designs of the master Christian Louboutin, and also the photos used by the Saks department […]
November 28th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
[…] for the example, is the Manolo’s internet friend Sarah commenting upon the Manolo’s outrage with the Steven Madden peoples. Sorry, I have to go against the grain […]
November 28th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
all ripoffs aside, these shoes are effing ugly. I still love Stevie and Christian, nevertheless
November 29th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
I want to hurl.
Now, I’m not a big fan of that particular shoe style to begin with, but the photo-shopped ones look absolutely awful. What were they thinking? Surely the cost of photographing a few shoes isn’t so much that it makes up for the loss of sales due to crappy pictures — let alone the further tarnishing on their company image!
I picked up a pair of Steve Madden shoes tonight, and as cute as they were, I couldn’t even bring myself to try them on. The pair of Steve Madden shoes that I do have are so cute, but the heel isn’t balanced right so they make my ankles turn out the moment I get lazy with my ankle muscles. That’s what I get for buying cheap shoes.
December 29th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
What a scam! Crablegs was right, going back to jail is probably in their near future.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
It is a rip-off, in terms of money and its cost. But lots of people like it and accept it. I would call it brand, and trust.