A company that markets itself as a trusted purveyor of excess stock from luxury brands is at the center of a new lawsuit waged against it by two of the brands that it claims to have worked with. In the complaint that they filed in a federal court in New York this week, as first reported by TFL, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent accuse In The Know Holding Company, LLC (“In The Know”) of not only selling counterfeit handbags and accessories, but of falsely claiming to “work directly with the brands” to ensure the authenticity of the products it offers up for sale.
According to the June 4 complaint, Gucci and Saint Laurent claim In The Know has engaged in trademark infringement and counterfeiting, false advertising, and unfair competition as a result of its sale of handbags and belts that bear counterfeit versions of their famous YSL and Gucci trademarks. To make matters worse, the two Kering-owned fashion companies allege that in addition to offering up infringing goods, In the Know – which has offered up goods from Valentino, Loro Piana, Moncler, Bottega Veneta, Givenchy, Golden Goose, and Chanel, among other brands, as part of its “sample sales” – went further by explicitly assuring customers that the goods at issue are brand-approved and authenticated.
In The Know, which holds itself out as “a brand new luxury sample sale destination in the heart of NYC,” advertised the counterfeits as “authentic and authorized goods” by way of a statement guaranteeing the products’ authenticity. Specifically, Gucci and Saint Laurent point to In The Know’s display of a statement on its e-commerce site that aims to convince consumers that the products had been vetted and approved by the brands themselves: “Authenticity Guaranteed. Shop with confidence! Our ‘Authenticity Guaranteed’ badge means every product you purchase is 100% genuine. We work directly with brands to ensure quality and integrity.”
Gucci and Saint Laurent characterize In The Know’s authenticity guarantee statement as categorically false and argue that its use of language like “100% genuine” and “we work directly with brands” does more than confuse consumers, it aims to intentionally deceive them. The brands assert that In The Know’s marketing and sale of the goods at issue has “caused and will continue to cause irreparable damage to [them], their business and their goodwill.”
And in fact, Gucci and Saint Laurent claim that because of how In The Know holds out the products, they “directly compete with” Gucci and Saint Laurent’s sale of these same products.
With the foregoing in mind, Gucci and Saint Laurent are seeking a permanent injunction, statutory and treble damages, disgorgement of profits, attorneys’ fees, and a full accounting of sales tied to the allegedly counterfeit products.
Authenticity Guaranteed?
In The Know’s use of authenticity guarantees makes this case stand out from other run-of-the-mill counterfeiting cases brought by brands, and they come as part of a larger pushback against such claims by brands in recent years. As TFL previously reported, resale platforms have moved away from making warranties about products being “100% Authentic,” raising broader questions about who has the right to authenticate luxury goods and how resale platforms should truthfully market their verification claims. Against this background, there is a growing tension in the resale and gray market space: the use of trust-signaling language by sellers who do not, in fact, have any official relationship with the brands they reference.
Assuming Gucci and Saint Laurent’s allegations are, in fact, true and the goods at issue are counterfeits (and not gray market goods, for example), this case will undoubtedly be more clear-cut on the authentication claims front than in the resale market, where questions remain about who can claim to sell “authenticated” goods.
The case is Yves Saint Laurent, S.A.S. et al v. In The Know Holding Company, LLC, 1:25-cv-04660 (SDNY).
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