We all know how the competition in the fashion industry is every bit fierce. Yet, it is encouraged as everyone is aware that when couturiers compete, they always try to outdo each other, and also their attempts come to us in the most amazing collections.

But plagiarism is one issue that the international and national fashion industry has always found hard to cope up with. Over the years we have heard some of the biggest names in the industry fighting over infringement. And the latest case that has emerged between two fashion giants Christian Louboutin and Yves Saint Launrent (YSL) has left the fashion industry quite bamboozled.

Christian Louboutin has sued YSL for alleged trademark infringement and counterfeiting of his shoes’ most distinctive feature – the red soles – and is seeking more than $1million in damages. And though the case is rumbling on and on, in a major turn of events YSL have cited that ‘red shoes worn by King Louis XIV in the 1600s and the ruby red shoes that carried Dorothy home in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ amongst other things in their effort to prove that Louboutin doesn’t have an exclusive right to make scarlet soles. They went as far as to say in their defense: “As an industry leader who has devoted his entire professional life to women’s footwear, Mr. Louboutin either knew or should have known about some or all of the dozens of footwear models that rendered his sworn statement false,” Yves Saint Laurent has claimed. And thought this clash between the two designer titans is unlikely to reach a conclusion soon, it is hardly the first the fashion industry has seen over the years.

It is a well known fact that two of the greatest designers this century Coco Channel and Elsa Schiaparelli were the biggest rivals. Schiaparelli’s and Chanel were continuously compared and constantly competed with one another. While Schiaparelli was flamboyant and outrageous Chanel was more conservative, and the pair fought to achieve popularity with the Parisian fashionistas. The competition among them was so rife that Coco never ever missed an opportunity to annoy her opponent and once she even set fire to her dress.

One of the longest running rivalries in the history of fashion industry was between the legendary French designers Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. Once sworn friends, Saint Laurent and Lagerfeld shared the name, fame, customers, lovers and even ideas for decades. But things started to fall apart when Saint Laurent and Lagerfeld were awarded at the International Wool Secretariat as young promising designers, back in 1954. Soon after that Saint Laurent was invited to work at the prestigious Christian Dior House who later named him as his successor while Lagerfeld had to work as a freelance designer with far less reputed design houses.

Though now it would be correct to say that the conflict between the two legends was in favour of Lagerfeld. Saint Laurent left the fashion world in 2002 because of excessive alcohol and drug abuse. Yet, Lagerfeld continues to manage the Chanel House successfully.

The current crop of couturiers prefers settling their disputes in the court. The war between Armani and his colleagues from Italy, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana rose because of plagiarism. In 2009, a few days after D&G showed their collection for Men’s Wear for the Milan Fashion Week, Armani demonstrated his interpretation of silk trousers that resembled D&G model of trousers, even the details were similar. Armani announced that Dolce and Gabbana stole the design of his trousers followed by the open scandal in media when designers left no chance of taking a dig at each other. Armani went as far as saying, “They replicate now, and who knows, may be they will learn how to do it then”, while D&G were firm to state that they could not replicate the model of their colleague since they stopped observing his collections several years ago.

Closer home, rivalries do exist between the celebrated and not-so-celebrated designers, but it is hardly spoken of publicly, unless it is a case of plagiarism. Last year, designer duo Jai-Parvesh accused Riyaz Gangji of plagiarism and went out and about telling the world. Though the scandal was short-lived, it brought to the forefront the problem of Indian fashion industry plagued by plagiarism. Several designers joined hands to fight it out. It is still an ongoing process and one wonders whether they’ll be able to overcome it completely, but till then we are keeping the faith that our couturiers will continue to surprise us with their wonderful creations, even if it makes them compete with each other.

TOMS guarantees happiness by retailing through one-of-its-kind way to the buyers and the society; one-to-one charity business model where every one pair of TOMS shoes, now eyewear sold, another pair goes to a child in need.

With over one million pairs of new shoes already given to children, founder Blake Mycoskie of TOMS took the program further by announcing company’s next one to one product- eyewear. Like their shoe program, for each pair of TOMS’ eyewear sold, the company will help give sight to people in need through medical treatment, prescription eyeglasses or sight-saving surgery, administered by its first giving partner, Seva Foundation. The foundation has a long history in the field, having given site to millions worldwide for the past 30 years. Initially, the program will support Seva’s efforts in Nepal, Tibet and Cambodia.

Blake said, “Over 280 million are blind or visually impaired in the world. This idea for eyewear first came to me while traveling on our shoe drops. I started to realize that many of the kids who were now able to attend school needed eyeglasses to see and that many of those I saw begging on the streets were blind. I began asking what it would take to help these people.”