Spend a couple minutes in any social media fitness or activewear space, and you’re likely to stumble across popular entrepreneur and fashion designer Cassey Ho. Known for her upbeat and positive approach to fitness, wellness, and body image, Cassey’s online fitness platform, Blogilates, grew into a digital community connecting millions of followers. The success of her brand inspired Cassey to further capitalize on her passion and launch an activewear line.
Her videos and products’ rise in popularity spawned a rash of imitators, prompting Cassey to embark on a brand protection mission. As a result, she not only successfully patented one of her signature designs, she also began to use her voice to speak out about the importance of supporting original designers and respecting IP rights.
Patenting the POPFLEX Pirouette Skort
Not long after starting and growing her fitness sphere, Cassey founded POPFLEX Active, a line of activewear for women. Using her fitness experience and pulse on pop-culture and fashion to spot gaps in the market, Cassey’s brand focuses on unique, comfortable, and functional pieces that reflect her personality and feminine style without compromising utility.
One of Cassey's signature designs is the Pirouette Skort, a hybrid of a skirt and shorts that features a tiered overlay, adjustable waist, and camouflaged pockets. With assistance from Nixon Peabody’s Intellectual Property team, Cassey applied for a patent for the skort design in 2023.
The patent process is intricate and complex, especially for clothing brands—fashion designs must meet the same utility, non-obviousness, and novelty standards for patentability as any other marketable product—but Cassey persevered and received the patent on January 16, 2024, coincidentally on her birthday. The patent grant was a special moment for Cassey, who celebrated with her fans and supporters on social media.
Defending against dupe culture
While fashion patents have been uncommon until recent years, more and more fashion designers are applying for patents to protect their brands against a tsunami of low-priced, often poorly constructed, knockoff and counterfeit “dupes” flooding the digital marketplace. The Pirouette Skort was so popular and unique that it attracted the attention of other brands, who began replicating and selling similar products.
Frustrated and disappointed by fast fashion’s dupe culture, which she felt disrespected her creativity and hard work, Cassey decided to speak out against the dupes and educate her followers about the importance of supporting original designers and respecting IP rights.
Because of the patent she pursued, Cassey found herself in a strong position to defend her design. Nixon Peabody’s IP attorneys helped Cassey take action against some of the infringers to have the products in violation removed from their sites, and to hopefully deter future copycats.
From patent application to viral success
The now-patented Pirouette Skort sold out immediately after a Lavender-colored edition was spotted on a high-profile celebrity, and Cassey and POPFLEX responded by offering it on backorder for “presale,” an approach they hadn’t taken before. While fighting dupes is an intricate and time-consuming process, the patent significantly helps Cassey enforce her intellectual property rights and stop copycats.
It takes a team to protect and secure one’s intellectual property rights, and the Nixon Peabody team is proud to support Cassey on her IP journey and help her protect her designs as their popularity continues to rise.