Coach and Quince end trade dress lawsuit over alleged dupes

Coach and Quince have come to a mutual agreement to end their ongoing federal litigation, which saw the lifestyle brand owned by Tapestry, Inc., accuse the online-luxury brand of selling dupes of its handbags.

Both companies filed a joint stipulation on June 23 to dismiss all of Coach’s claims of trade dress infringement and unfair competition without prejudice in the US District Court for the Northern District of California and drop the case entirely, with each company covering its own legal fees and costs.

Coach first accused Quince of allegedly selling dupes last spring, filing a complaint on April 4, 2025, against the affordable luxury brand for trade dress infringement, unfair competition, and false designation of origin.

In the filing, Coach stated that two handbag designs from Quince, namely its "Italian Leather Medium Convertible Satchel" and “Italian Leather Buckle Detail Shoulder Bag," are “substantially indistinguishable” from its “iconic” Rogue and Soho Flap handbags.

Coach argued that Quince copied several distinctive, non-functional design features from both of its handbags, such as the silhouette, stitching detail, and hardware placement, which serve as source-identifying trade dress.

At the time, Coach was seeking a court order to stop Quince from selling its dupe handbags, following a product recall and the destruction of the allegedly infringing products, and damages. The complaint also claimed that Quince’s copycat handbags could lead to consumer confusion regarding the handbag source.

The brief case between Coach and Quince is part of a growing number of trade dress litigation from designer brands against the copy-cat market. Rather than trying to build a case on the alleged logo theft, a copied monogram, or the misuse of a brand name, Coach’s claim rested on the argument that its product's design, namely the handbags' silhouette, stitching, and hardware placement, could constitute protectable trade dress, a higher and more contested legal bar.

No stranger to lawsuits, Quince, a San Francisco-based brand, has built its business model and reputation on its factory-direct designs and pricing strategy that seeks to undercut designer brands by offering similar designs for less. Valued at 10.1 billion US dollars, Quince has faced several lawsuits in recent years, from names including Deckers Outdoor Corp., Williams-Sonoma Inc., and Yeti Coolers LLC.

News of the end of the lawsuit comes days after Deckers, parent company of Ugg, lost its infringement lawsuit against Quince over its copycat Ugg. Deckers first filed its lawsuit against Quince in 2023, over allegations of infringement for its US Design Patent No. D927,161t of the Ugg Classic Ultra mini boot.

After close to three years of litigation, a federal jury in California ruled last week that while Quince’s boots may have infringed on Deckers’ design patent, the asserted trade dresses were too common within the footwear industry to identify a single source, with the jury going even further by invalidating Deckers' design patent entirely.