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Converse is in the midst of controversy after a 22-year-old woman released a video where she accused the American shoe company of using her designs without her knowledge. The video was posted on TikTok and it has over nine million views now.
The alleged design theft
The woman has been identified as Cecilia Monge and she is from Florida. As per The New York Post, she claimed that Converse stole her designs for the popular Chuck Taylor sneakers. It was revealed that she submitted drawings with detailed colorings as part of her internship application in 2019, but she was rejected. At that time, the piece that she submitted was her National Park-inspired and Yellowstone-inspired designs.
In Converse’s new releases for its new batch of sneakers, she was surprised to see the designs as she thinks they bore an uncanny resemblance to her ideas. While she can see the likeness in her drawings, Monge shared that she was hesitant to call out Converse at first because she doubted the big company saw her original shoe concepts.
Her friends and family convinced her to take action because her designs were obviously used without notifying her and having any deal with her. Based on her narration, she tried to contact Converse through emails, but she did not get any reply and this prompted her to make her video and to just publish it for the public to see.
"I really wanted the position," she told Diet Prada when it reached out to her for comments. "I thought I should show initiative and create my own line of Converse to show them I could be successful in the role if they hired me, which is a common practice in design roles."
To prove her allegations, Monge posted side-by-side photos of her original drawings and Converse’s newly-released Chuck sneakers. Many people showed support and commented that they were indeed copied.
Converse’s response
Converse got wind of the allegation and its representative issued a statement denying the claim.
The shoemaker told FEMAIL that it is true that in November 2019, a candidate applied for Converse Internship for the summer program the following year, but she was not hired for any roles after the screening process.
“The application did not include a request for, nor did Converse solicit design portfolios/samples to be submitted,” Converse’s rep added. “As a matter of standard legal policy, we do not share unsolicited portfolios of job applicants across the business.”
