Miami, Florida. 22-year-old Cecilia Monge is going viral on TikTok for posting a series of videos in which she accused Converse of stealing her sneaker designs.
In her first video, Cecilia explained that she applied for a design internship at Converse two years ago. She said she was super excited to apply and was really hoping to get the internship.
Cecilia put together a beautiful pitch deck kind of presentation when she applied, and she sent it in to Converse in November of 2019.
Cecilia shared two of her designs in particular that she believes were copied by Converse. “They’re essentially the same design,” she said.
“Didn’t get the internship, never heard back from them, and then saw this on the internet.”
Here are her two designs below, along with recent releases from Converse based on the national parks.
TikTok; pictured above, Cecilia’s design is on the top, and Converse’s design is on the bottom
TikTok; pictured above is Cecilia’s second design on the top, and the Converse one is on the bottom
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“This is the second shoe that they released and I also think it’s very interesting because the color palette is exactly the same to the one I sent them, down to the order of the colors and the actual hues of the colors,” Cecilia said of her second design.
“Like, look at the yellows and the greens. It is the same color…um, but yeah. I don’t think it’s a coincidence…and it’s kind of just unfortunate when larger companies “borrow” from smaller designers.”
What Cecilia said did get the attention of Converse.
TikTok; pictured above is Cecilia in her update video
In an update video that she shared, Cecilia mentioned that Converse sent her an email, and it’s basically the same thing that they commented on an Instagram post made by Diet Prada.
Below, you can read the entire comment they left on Diet Prada, in which Converse maintains their designs were created a year before Cecilia submitted her portfolio.
The statement from Converse also said that they don’t share unsolicited portfolios with their team.
TikTok; pictured above is the reply that Converse gave
Cecilia went on to say that she’s now working on designing her own line of sneakers and apparel.