Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Brother sued for leaving family Hasidic clothing company and starting his own
A popular Brooklyn Hasidic clothing company is in turmoil because one of its founders broke off and launched his own competing line of black coats, hats and trousers, and now his brothers are suing him for $2 million over the breach.
The owners of Glauber's Quality Clothing, established by a family of Brooklyn brothers in 1982, claim in their Brooklyn federal suit that an unnamed founding sibling ripped off their trademark and reputation by launching his own line of religious garb.
The business, with shops in Williamsburg and Borough Park in Brooklyn, upstate Monsey and Israel, is suing Glauber's Traditional Clothing for damages and to force the upstart enterprise to stop using the family name, court papers state.
"Our client has good reason to be concerned that the owners and driving force behind this business about to be launched is none other than their former business partner (and brother)," reads a cease-and-desist letter submitted earlier this month.
"There is absolutely no reason or justification for your company to adopt the Glauber name, in competition with its former partner," the letter states.
But rather than abandon use of the family name, the rogue Glauber threw open the doors to a sparkling new emporium in Monroe that brimmed with items from yarmulkes to fur hats, court papers state.
The original company was established in 1982 and was "met with popular approval as a result of plaintiff's extensive marketing, promotion, advertising and sale of its products," according to court papers.
But one of the original founders later left the company and took the glittering Glauber name with him, papers state.
"Garments offered for sale by defendant and intended for sale to the Chassidic men's community bear a label which not only contains our trademark, but contains a logo intended to emulate the logo of the plaintiff," the suit states.
The rival clothier sought to hype the new venture with an ad in Tzaytung News Report, a Yiddish newspaper, that boldly told Hasidic fashionistas to "prepare yourselves" for their new store. "The advertisement further contains a picture of a tape measure…," papers state.
The defendant could not immediately be reached for comment.
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