Difference between mario valentino and valentino garavani

There’s a decades-old and infamous battle at the heart of the Valentino name, but what is it all about, and is Valentino by Mario Valentino a luxury brand?

Valentino by Mario Valentino is considered more of a ‘copy brand’ than a luxury brand in itself. While its products are above average retail prices, they aren’t dramatically high, and the label itself isn’t considered a luxury fashion house. 

Read on to learn more about Valentino by Mario Valentino, and the controversy the brand became embroiled in with a similarly-named competitor. 

The Battle of the Valentinos

In 1952, Mario Valentino founded an eponymous company in Italy, focusing on the manufacture and sale of footwear and other leather fashion goods.

The company plugged along quite happily, building a name for itself in and around Naples.

However, when 1960 rolled around, so too did another Valentino, this time being a fashion designer by the name of Valentino Garavani.

This Valentino also had visions of creating a prominent Italian brand, and thus founded a ‘couture house’ in Rome, Italy. 

As the two brands expanded their presence, offerings, and footfalls, they slowly became aware of one another’s existence.

This culminated in a coming together of sorts when in 1979, an agreement was signed between the two brands.

This agreement effectively permitted both brands to trade under the Valentino name without either party amending their image, iconography, or product line.

Although consumer confusion still existed, there was nothing that could be done, short of forcing one party to cease trading. 

Valentino (Garavani) would grow to become a powerhouse of Italian fashion, with dramatically expensive lines.

They would dominate the Valentino name with ease and become a staple of the couture industry. 

Valentino by Mario Valentino (as it was legally known) wouldn’t fare quite so well.

Their products were often seen as copies of Valentino’s finery, and their price points didn’t come close to their much more impressive competitor.

In 2019, relations between the two brands turned sour, despite their decades-old agreement to retain civility.

Allegedly, Mario Valentino had been selling products that were mislabelled, somewhat deceptive, and far too close to Valentino’s own products. 

The decision from the Court of Milan stated that Mario Valentino was “selling numerous models of handbags labeled in a manner that is not permitted”.

It was a clear-cut case of Mario Valentino trying to deliberately confuse the market, and drive sales in its favor. 

Setting The Scale Of Luxury

While Valentino (Garavani) sells high-quality products at dramatically steep prices, Mario Valentino falls some way behind.

The latter’s products might be better than the average, but they’re far from the heights of luxury.

There’s no real exclusivity behind Valentino by Mario Valentino either, as the driving force behind the brand is a mass manufacturer.

It’s not difficult to find Mario Valentino’s products in department stores, and even supermarkets, all around the world. 

Following a swift internet search, you can find Valentino by Mario Valentino bags for as little as fifty dollars.

There are many ways in which Mario Valentino differs from a traditional luxury brand, but this is the most important indicator. 

Further, Valentino by Mario Valentino products can regularly be seen on sale, a practice that few luxury brands partake in.

You’ll never see a Louis Vuitton bag sale, for example. 

We discussed how Louis Vuitton operates in another article, including their dramatic policy to destroy all unsold merchandise. 

Many critics have slammed Valentino by Mario Valentino, alleging that the brand is incapable of producing its own unique products. In fact, one article goes as far as to say, “I would say the licensed Mario Valentino bags are close to junk.” 

Another article detailed the launch of Valentino by Mario Valentino’s bags in the U.S. markets, this time speaking positively about the brand.

The article itself was laced with deception and confusion, referring numerous times to simply ‘Valentino’, and stating it was the height of luxurious fashion.

Copy-Cat Confusion

Ultimately, Valentino by Mario Valentino is nowhere near the scale of Valentino (Garavani). Its products aren’t as high-quality, valuable, or exclusive, and likely never will be.

The brand itself has a very minuscule online presence, and there’s absolutely no endorsement or scarcity to drive up the value.

Therefore, it’s safe to say that while Valentino by Mario Valentino may come with higher than average price points, it isn’t an authentic luxury brand. 

THE FASHION LAW EXCLUSIVE — Valentino is not the first fashion house to bear the Valentino name. While the Italian brand – which got its start in 1960 under the watch of its eponymous founder Valentino Garavani – is easily be the most famous brand in the world to have such a moniker, with its otherworldly couture, lengthy roster of celebrity fans, and stable of coveted accessories, a similarly-named company actually beat it to the market. When Garavani first opened up shop, an unrelated Mario Valentino was already in business in Italy, offering up footwear and after that, leather goods, operating since 1952 under the Mario Valentino name.

Almost from the outset, Valentino S.p.A. claims that “because of their similar names and overlapping goods,” the two companies “experienced issues of consumer confusion,” prompting them to enter into a co-existence agreement in 1979.

According to that agreement, which the similarly-named fashion brands agreed to forge due to their respective “desire to avoid public confusion and conflict, present or future, in any part of the world,” Mario Valentino is permitted to “use and register the full name Mario Valentino or M. Valentino or Valentino or the letters MV or V exclusively on the outside, together with Mario Valentino on the inside and on the packaging [of] all goods made of leather or imitation leather or other material.”

That agreement served its peace-making purpose for nearly 4 decades, during which time the Mario Valentino brand found famous fans in Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Catherine Deneuve, and a long list of Italian actresses, among others, and entered into collaborations “with designers of the calibre of Karl Lagerfeld, Giorgio Armani, Gianni Versace,” as well as famed photographer Helmut Newton, who shot ad campaigns for the brand.

But now, the Garavani-founded Valentino S.p.A. is in the midst of a high-stakes fight with Mario Valentino over its name, with the Italian couture house accusing Mario Valentino and its American licensee of  “actively engaging in a campaign to trade off Valentino’s goodwill in the United States handbag market.”

According to a recent decision from the Court of Milan centering on the contents of the parties’ 40-year old co-existence agreement, Mario Valentino is running afoul of the parties’ agreement by “selling numerous models of handbags labeled in a manner that is not permitted under the co-existence agreement,” thereby, giving rise to “the very type of consumer confusion the agreement was intended to prevent.”

The Court of Milan held in May that Mario Valentino failed to abide by the parties’ legally-binding contract, which states that Mario Valentino is “permitted to use the ‘V’ or ‘Valentino’ mark on the outside of its handbags [and marketing], but is not permitted to use the ‘V’ and ‘Valentino’ marks together, and must also use the ‘Mario Valentino’ mark on the inside and packaging of all handbags to avoid consumer confusion.”

Fast forward to June 22 and Valentino S.p.A. has taken its fight stateside, filing suit against Mario Valentino and its licensee Yarch Capital, LLC in a federal court in California, and alleging that as a result of their breach of the agreement, they are engaging in false advertising, unfair competition, and design patent infringement.

According to Valentino S.p.A.’s newly-filed suit, Mario Valentino and Yarch Capital have taken to “marketing their handbags with packaging and related literature that prominently identifies the bags as coming from ‘Valentino,’” and making using of Valentino’s “V” logo, as prohibited by their global co-existence agreement, “while downplaying or omitting entirely the fact that they are bags licensed by Mario Valentino S.p.A,” not Valentino S.p.A. That same practice of omitting the “Mario” name extends to a recent press release sent out by Yarch Capital to promote the launch of the Mario Valentino handbag line, which Valentino S.p.A. claims “uses ‘Valentino’ 20 times, but ‘Mario Valentino’ only appears twice, including once buried at the bottom of the press release.”

In order to confuse consumers into believing that their handbag collection is affiliated with Valentino S.p.A. that same release that calls “Valentino one of the top brands in the world,” in reference to Mario Valentino, and calls its designer “a top designer name that people worldwide are familiar with.”

More than that, Valentino S.p.A. claims that Mario Valentino and Yarch Capital have significantly raised the prices of their bags to be “closer to the prices associated with Valentino bags,” and “have further enhanced the likelihood of confusion by copying the designs of Valentino [S.p.A]’s handbags, including designs covered by valid design patents.” (The strength of the design patent claims appears to be at least somewhat weak, given the differences between the two companies’ bags; the shape of Mario Valentino’s “Rock” bag arguably bears greater similarity to Givenchy’s Antigona bag than Valentino’s patent-protected Rockstud tote).

Such behavior, Valentino S.p.A. asserts, is “willful and deliberate” and has caused and “will continue to cause, Valentino [S.p.A.] financial and reputational harm,” in part because its own “handbags have been critical to maintaining the value of the legendary Valentino brand into the twenty-first century.” Valentino S.p.A. claims that its handbag category – which has achieve a level of “prestige” that Mario Valentino’s simply has not – has “accounted for over $700 million in revenue in the past five years, over $100 million in the United States.”

With all of this in mind, Valentino S.p.A. is seeking injunctive relief barring the defendants from “engaging in any acts that deceive or are likely to deceive consumers as to the source of their goods,” and from selling any products that infringe its design patent-protected handbags. The fashion brand has asked the court to require the defendants to produce “an accounting and award of all gains, profits, savings and advantages realized … [in connection with their] wrongful conduct,” and for an award of the profits made by the defendants.

*The case is  Valentino S.p.A., v. Mario Valentino S.p.A.; Yarch Capital, LLC, 2:19-cv-6306 (C.D.Cal.). 

Is Valentino by Mario Valentino the same as Valentino Garavani?

What is Mario Valentino vs Valentino?

Is Mario Valentino high end?

Are there 2 Valentinos?