Stuck in Pittsburgh

Btw, my people, I am currently stuck in Pittsburgh. I was trying to go the shoe show in Las Vegas last night and my flight out of New York was canceled thanks to a bunch of rain all up and down the East Coast. After three or four hours in Laguardia, I went back home and then returned to the airport this morning in hopes of getting on a flight on standby. I caught a flight to Pittsburgh, which arrived at 12 or so, but my connecting flight to Las Vegas won't be leaving until 8:30 tonight. Nice, huh? I'm gonna be hustling around that shoe show like a MANIAC tomorrow cause I leave back for New York tomorrow night on the red eye. And I know I've promised it before, but this time I am totally going to take pictures. I swear! The catch is that I will probably post all of them on ChicksWithKicks.

Anyway, this airport features a mall, so I'm going to go explore. Lol, only four hours to kill! Ahh well, at least I got some time to catch up on some blogging, which makes me feel good.

UPDATE (with pictures!!) I'm just about recovered from my evening meal, which started with Ben & Jerry's and ended with ziti from Zbarro's. And that my body has processed that nightmare meal, I'm starting to get that loser feeling, like anyone else would have been in Las Vegas by now. Given all the time on my hands, I took some pictures while I was here:


^^These are my latest footwear acquisition. I adore them. I don't know the real style name, but in my mind I call them my Coco Chanel Jordans. I bought them in one of those shoe boutiques on 14th Street in Manhattan and I might go back and buy the beige pair.

^^Outside of my Jordans, today I am Miss Asics as I am wearing an Asics jacket and carrying an Asics bag. A few months ago, I went to an Asics showcase and received an the jacket and overnight bag for my efforts. A lot of times the samples companies give out suck, but I ran all winter in the Asics jacket because it kicked ass in a million different ways, but mostly because no matter how freezing it got, it kept me warm. But this isn't an image of the jacket, it's the Asics bag that I also received. My son calls it his "Coach bag." I thought he was joking and playing off on the stupidity of designer stuff, but then recently he asked me if it really was a Coach bag. I like the way it looks and feels, but I'm not yet convinced of its durability. If I was walking along one day and the handle just ripped off from its mooring, I wouldn't be shocked.

^^I noticed today and yesterday in the airport that everyone is carrying these quilty bags. I kinda like them, but I kinda think they suck, too. This trend started as an ironic play on the grandmotherly nature of quilted, homespun looking bags, but now they're being carried by people who are not mean and vain fashionistas, but like the bags themselves, are nice and wholesome, which ruins the whole concept and inspires my disdain.

Skechers: This is Rich!

Skechers, a shoe company which has made a name for being the king of theft when it comes to stealing other shoe companies' hottest designs, is counter-suing Asics, which recently went after them for allegedly knocking off one of its lifestyle styles.

^^The shoes in question

Skechers USA, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Asics Corporation and Asics America Corporation for trade libel, unfair competition and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage and economic business relations. Skechers seeks injunctive relief enjoining Asics from engaging in further unlawful acts, disgorgement of Asics' profits, attorneys' fees and $100 million in punitive damages. Skechers also seeks a declaration that none of its designs infringe upon Asics' trademarks.

"We believe that Asics has engaged in a campaign of unfair competition and trade libel against Skechers by improperly issuing press releases and filing a lawsuit to disseminate false public information about Skechers," says Philip G. Paccione, General Counsel of Skechers. "We also believe that these false statements were made with malice as they contradict sworn testimony of Asics' executives. These falsehoods threaten Skechers' reputation of being hip, cutting edge and original in its shoe designs, and they will interfere with customer relationships."

Skechers' lawsuit is in response to an Asics' lawsuit and press release asserting that certain Skechers designs infringed Asics' trademark.

The lawyers for Skechers must do side work as stand-up comedians! For real though, those guys don't feel any way about suing people. Perhaps it's just a scare tactic, but considering the fact that I'm even thinking I shouldn't write anything bad about Skechers on my little blog, I'd say it's effective!

On another note, I know a big cheese at a company that Skechers likes to "borrow" from and he explained that Skechers are experts at copying shoes in a way that keeps them out of hot water. Apparently the company knows exactly where and how much it has to alter its knock-offs so that that it's immune to litigation. Just looking at the two shoes side-by-side and remembering other copies that struck me as much more egregious, I have a feeling that Asics might lose this battle.