I’ve often wondered whatever happened with Mixed Chicks suing Sally’s Beauty Supply for infringement on their trademark. Here’s more on that: Mixed Chicks Haircare Line Sues Sally Beauty Supply. Well, apparently that was all taken care of and Mixed Chicks came out the winner.
For the past two years well-known natural hair company
Mixed Chicks has been in an ongoing legal battle with Sally Beauty company.
Mixed Chicks had filed a lawsuit against the national beauty supply chain in
March 2011, for selling a product called “Mixed Silk” at their over 2,000
locations. The plaintiffs felt that the overall appearance of the Mixed Silk
product line infringed on their
trademarked labeling due to similarities.
On November 2, the jury found that Sally Beauty had not
only infringed on the Mixed Chicks trademark, but had acted “willfully with
malice and oppression.” The jury verdict awarded Mixed Chicks LLC $8,114,535
($839,535 in actual damages and $7,275,000 in punitive damages). In a press
release to JET, co-founders Kim Etheredge, Wendi Levy and Bradley Kaaya spoke
on their massive win, ” We invested our hearts and souls into this company and
have built the reputation of the Mixed Chicks products as one of distinction
and high quality. It was an expensive
case, but we believe in our brand and will fight to protect it. We are pleased the jury has found Sally
Beauty willfully infringed and awarded an amount that will make them think
twice about doing so in the future. You can’t just bully little companies.”
The trio will also be seeking additional funds for
attorney’s fees, a portion of Sally Beauty’s profits of Mixed Silk products and
an order to ban the selling of Mixed Silk products.
As you can see these savvy businesswomen weren’t playing and I really can’t blame them either. There are too many major corporations trying to bank off of the Natural hair movement. They have the money to slap a label on a product that looks like a big natural hair player in the game to confuse the consumers (black woman). I’ve written an article about this recently: Natural Hair News: Is there a threat of generic brands?
Say what you want but this will be happening more and more and MAYBE this lawsuit win will slow down the process. I’m a big believer that black women spend more money on their hair than women of other races and feel that we rarely reap those monetary rewards. Nothing against Sally Beauty Supply but if we don’t stand up for ourselves as well as back these black owned brands we may see this continue. The Natural hair movement has brought the money back into our hands and the community and this blogger wants it to stay that way.
I’ve heard on Facebook Sally’s repackaged the product and have a new name but don’t know for sure. I’ll be taking a trip to Sally’s to check it out.
Always keeping you in the know Naturals,
Sabrina
Great discussion point! I do feel that a lot of the major brand are now copying the natural hair specialist brands with their naming – there are now a lot of hair "puddings", "custards" and "jellies" lol. Also with the phrasing, use of terms, colours and images. They are trying to cash in on a growing market. I do feel we as consumer should support the smaller and specialist brand not only because the products tend to better but because they have are interest at heart too rather then just profit!
Yes, they are trying to cash in and i don't feel they care about what is ACTUALLY in the bottle and care more about fooling the buyer. We need to be cornering this market ANYWAY to me so I steer clear from those fake brands and stick with the real one line Kinky Curly, Shea Moisture and Mixed Chicks. Thanks for commenting.
I never new this was going on and I just recently purchased some samples of Mixed Chicks from the beauty supply store (I wanted to test it on my hair before purchasing the full price bottle $19.99, which is a little pricey not knowing how it will effect my hair). I like it though…I even mixed some in my Shea butter mix…makes my hair happy…lol! http://www.youtube.com/Cassyp4cHair
So glad you have found something that works and was made from Black women. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing this, Sabrina! Although I don't use or recommend mixed chics products, ingredient connoisseur here, I applaud them for making sure their products are available to consumers who want them without big business trying to shut them down just cause they have the money to.
Exactly!!! Thanks for sharing love.
Not a fan of Mixed Chicks but I am happy to see them prevail against big business.
Neither am I but will ALWAYS be behind a black woman doing business. Glad they won.
I remember hearing about this back when they first filed suit. I'm glad to hear that they came out on top because Sally's is all about creating knock-off versions of other products in similar packaging as the original. Maybe they'll think twice before doing it again.
I sure hope so. I truly want the black owned companies to flourish. Thanks for commenting.
I agree but it's hard for most people to buy Mixed Chicks products as they are ridiculously expensive whereas the same product was a lot less at Sally's. Sally's gives people the opportunity to get a lot of expensive like products at a decent price than others do.
I hear you but cannot agree. I love the fact that black women are cornering the black hair market as we should have been doing since day one!!! Thanks for sharing.
I used the Mixed Silk for my daughter and I preferred it because of the price and how it worked with her hair. Mixed Chicks is a bit pricey to use on a 8 yr old girl with long hair. Maybe Mixed Chicks need to come out with a kids line that is not so pricey so consumers will not have to turn to a generic brand. I'm not saying what Sally's did was right by packaging a similar product that looks and works like Mixed Chicks but Mixed Chicks should have confidence in their product to have some competition.
Thanks for sharing.