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You don’t have to be a diehard sneakerhead to be familiar with the work of Dominic Ciambrone, the man better known as “The Shoe Surgeon” who’s made quite a name for himself by customizing kicks for plenty of celebrity clients.
However, the future of his business has been cast into doubt now that he’s been hit with a massive lawsuit courtesy of the folks at Nike.
It’s hard not to be impressed by the empire Dominic Ciambrone managed to build after embarking on his quest to construct The Shoe Surgeon brand that eventually transformed into a very lucrative endeavor.
His lifelong love of sneakers led to him getting a crash course in cobbling before he decided to turn his passion into a business that eventually attracted the interest of Justin Bieber, LeBron James, Drake, and the many other celebrities who’ve paid a minimum of $3,000 to have a pair of shoes transformed into a one-of-kind creation.
The Shoe Surgeon’s customization approach largely revolves around taking preexisting shoes and rebuilding them to incorporate luxury materials and various pieces of flair to set them apart from the rest of the pack, and he’s inspired enough people with similar interest to justify charging $3,000 for a four-day “Shoe Surgeon Sneaker School” where they can learn some of the tricks of the trade.
However, his approach has now attracted the scrutiny of Nike, which headed to a federal court in New York on Monday to file a lawsuit against Ciambrone that asserts he’s violated more than 30 of the company’s trademarks, illegally made counterfeit versions of their signatures shoes, and used the Sneaker School to teach people how to do the same while constructing an “illicit Nike empire.”
The filing accuses Ciambrone (who was also sued by Goyard in June) of improperly leveraging Nike’s brand for his own benefit and highlights a number of collaborations with brands including eBay, Wingstop, and Twix that use Air Force 1 and Jordan models as a template.
As a result, Nike is seeking at least $60 million from Ciambrone due to the damages it believes it’s incurred courtesy of The Shoe Surgeon’s operations.
What does Nike want? They want the Courts to immediately stop Surgeon from selling "counterfeit" shoes, stop his customization classes, stop using Nike intellectual property with collaborators, and they want MONEY to compensate them for the 30+ trademarks he willfully used to… pic.twitter.com/nVQHF6kM1M
— Sneaker & Streetwear Legal Services℠ (@SneakerLegal) July 15, 2024
Nike also released a statement after news of the lawsuit started to make the rounds that positions it as a last resort after private conversations attempting to settle their issues failed to reach a satisfactory conclusion.
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It’ll be very interesting to see how this ends up playing out.