A small New York designer has taken on Kim Kardashian's billion-dollar SKIMS empire – accusing the brand of copying her name and transforming it into a $700 million cash machine.

The explosive lawsuit claims the reality star's firm pushed ahead with its Fits Everybody collection despite repeated warnings from little-known apparel brand Fits Everybody To A T, which says it had already secured rights to the name.

Court documents seen by the Daily Mail accuse Kardashian's $5 billion trendy brand of using its celebrity power to dominate the market despite not owning the trademark.

According to the complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, SKIMS launched the line 'after receiving repeated, unequivocal notice' of the smaller brand's rights – before expanding it into one of its most successful collections.

Small business claims SKIMS leveraged power to dominate dispute 

'A company with fewer resources might have reconsidered upon receiving such notice,' the filing states.

'But defendant, backed by the personal fortune and celebrity platform of Kim Kardashian, had no reason to reconsider.

'Defendant believes it could simply outspend, out-market, and outlast any legal challenge from a small business owner.'

The lawsuit goes further, describing the case as 'a textbook example of intentional infringement by a massively resourced junior user against a vulnerable senior user'. 

The battle over the trademark has been going on behind the scenes for years but has only now reached the courts.   

Owner of Fits, Denise Cesare, 61, has been selling swimwear and clothing under the name for almost a decade, with Kardashian, 45, launching SKIMS in 2019.

The claim pits Kardashian's female-empowered brand against what the lawsuit describes as 'a small, self-funded woman-owned business'.

Small brand claims name confusion with SKIMS harms business 

Cesare's team argues that the similarity between the names is the issue, making it likely shoppers will assume the brands are connected.

Her attorney Jessica Mathews told the Daily Mail: 'The complaint, which is publicly available, tells the story of our client – a small, self-funded business founded and run by Denise Cesare, its sole owner and operator.

'She built her brand from the ground up, years before SKIMS entered the market.

'What followed, as alleged, is a textbook case of reverse confusion: a far larger, celebrity-backed company adopting a confusingly similar name and rapidly saturating the market through scale, advertising, and the cultural reach of its co-founder, Kim Kardashian.'

Their complaint goes further, accusing SKIMS of leveraging its 'overwhelming financial resources, celebrity connections, and marketing machine' to 'swamp and eclipse' the smaller brand.

Cesare even claims her business has been pushed so far down search engine rankings as to be 'effectively invisible.'

The filing also alleges SKIMS 'continued and expanded its use' of the name even after receiving objections, including launching new products and marketing campaigns.

At the center of the dispute is SKIMS's hugely lucrative Fits Everybody line, a signature range of shapewear and underwear promoted by Kardashian and fronted by stars including Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks and Candice Swanepoel.

The body-hugging basics have become a cornerstone of the brand's success, with the lawsuit claiming the collection has generated between $700 million and $900 million in revenue.

Cesare's legal team added: 'Our client created her brand in 2015. SKIMS didn't exist until 2019. We asked them to stop using her mark almost two years ago.

'They refused. The USPTO then refused to register their mark twice because of our client's registered mark.

'Trademark law doesn't care how big you are or how many followers you have. It cares about who was first to use the mark. Our client was first, and had no choice but to file suit to protect her brand and small business.'

Behind the scenes, the battle had already been brewing at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where SKIMS's attempt to trademark Fits Everybody ran into serious trouble – despite the brand claiming it had been using the name since 2019.

USPTO rejects SKIMS trademark over confusion risk 

Cesare had already secured two active federal trademarks, one dating back to 2016 and another approved in 2024, both of which are now being used by the USPTO to refuse the SKIMS application.

In a stinging decision issued in December, trademark officials refused the application, warning it was too similar to existing marks and posed a 'likelihood of confusion' for shoppers.

Officials pointed to near identical wording and overlapping clothing lines, with some products even deemed 'legally identical'.

SKIMS had six months to respond, eventually filing for a three-month extension on March 3 as the dispute intensified. The simmering fight exploded into a federal lawsuit on March 31.

Cesare is now seeking damages, profits and legal costs, as well as an order preventing SKIMS from continuing to use the name. 

She is also asking the court to hand over profits from the disputed line, a figure that could run into the hundreds of millions, arguing she has been 'deprived of control' over her brand as a result.

If Cesare wins, Kardashian's shapewear empire could be forced to hand over hundreds of millions and ditch one of its most successful lines.

SKIMS has yet to formally respond. The company has appointed lawyers and requested an extension until May 27 to file its defense.

A representative for Kardashian and SKIMS did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Mail.

The brand has already faced legal trouble, after being ordered to pay a $200,000 settlement in January 2026 over claims it wrongly charged New Jersey customers sales tax on exempt clothing between 2019 and 2024.

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