TikToker Cecilia Monge has called out the popular shoe brand Converse after they allegedly stole her artwork for their Chuck 70 collection. Monge revealed that she had previously applied for an internship at the company and had created the designs as a work sample.
In a TikTok video, Monge shared her disappointment over her artwork being used without her consent and displayed side-by-side comparisons of the two designs:
“Two years ago I applied to a design internship with Converse and I got really excited about it, really wanted the internship so I went above and beyond and kinda made a pitch slide deck within my portfolio that I sent them for the application. Didn’t get the internship, never heard back from them and then saw this on the internet. I don’t think it’s a coincidence and it’s kind of just unfortunate when larger companies borrow from smaller designers”.
@ceci.monge Ouch @converse #internship #design #smalldesigner #plzstopstealing #fashion #TWDSurvivalChallenge #fyp
Diet Prada also shared the serious accusations against Converse on their Instagram page:
“When Monge saw Converse’s ‘National Parks’ shoes on another TikTok on May 5th, she was initially skeptical that such a large corporation could’ve actually noticed her work. Prompted by friends and family who believed she had been copied, Monge contacted Converse two weeks ago. Without a response, she decided to take to social media and the response was overwhelming. “I was not expecting this at all,” she said. “Within 4 hours my tiktok had 800K likes and 2.8 million views.””
In a recent statement, Converse addressed the allegations made against them and denied that there were any similarities between the two designs:
“In November 2019, the candidate did apply to a Converse internship for the 2020 summer program — a highly competitive program, which receives thousands of applications each year. She was not hired or screened for any roles. The application did not include a request for, nor did Converse solicit design portfolios/samples to be submitted…In October 2020, we released a Chuck 70 design, which took inspiration from the map patterns of Nor’easter storms. It was first concepted and designed in April 2019. Due to the popularity of the style, we continued it in 2021 under our design concept ‘Hybrid World,’ which explores original design concepts informed by the physical and digital realities of modern lives. The Great Outdoors and specifically, National Parks, served as inspiration for various color palettes, which were applied across a number of executions across the Chuck 70, Chuck Taylor All Star and apparel”.