Karen Millen fight stops £2.6m in online counterfeit sales

Fashion retailer Karen Millen has led an international anti-counterfeit campaign that claims to have stopped the sale of over £2.6m worth of fake garments using the brand’s name.

The company said it has worked closely with online marketplaces including eBay, Amazon, Taobao and Alibaba, as well as other retailers. It has also targeted parts of the supply chain, such as the factories manufacturing imitations.

Karen Millen said its campaign has succeeded in removing over 38,000 URLs from search engine result pages as well as over 23,000 products listings from online marketplaces. It said that over half a million pounds worth of counterfeit product has been delisted from eBay alone.

“As a leading global fashion brand, Karen Millen has inevitably attracted the attention of those wanting to profit through producing cheap imitations,” the company’s legal counsel James Corlett said. “Over the last three years we have invested heavily in brand protection strategies and worked with partners to safeguard the craftsmanship and look associated with the fashion house. To date we have shut down over 2,200 counterfeit sites selling fake products and we are currently in the process of delisting a further 200.”

The fashion house has a page on its website called “Join our Fight”, which encourages consumers to notify the brand if they come across a suspicious site or seller.

Gemma Metheringham, chief creative officer of Karen Millen, said: “Our clients are looking for unique pieces that they won’t see anywhere else, so we have a zero tolerance policy towards counterfeit.”