Interesting history of Sonia Sotomayor’s crusade against counterfeit fashion:
As a young attorney, Sotomayor also partook in what’s termed the “Fendi Crush” in 1986, where phony Fendi bags were smashed by a garbage truck in front of Tavern on the Green as a message to those who sell and buy these fake goods. Working for Pavia & Harcourt, Sotomayor fought hard for her clients, including Fendi, Bulgari and other Italian fashion companies. Sotomayor then positioned herself as a key player in drafting anti-counterfeiting legislation that became part of the New York state penal code. – from Latina
“Our aim is much like a drug operation,” Sotomayor told the New York Times Nov. 11, 1986, as the the company’s lawyer at Pavia & Harcourt. “We attempt to go after suppliers and secure information that leads back to the manufacturers. We go after U.S. retailers to the degree that we send cease-and-desist orders and request that they voluntarily cooperate and turn over the counterfeits. … We have yet to meet a retail seller who admits ‘I knew.’ It is our position that if they had used a standard of diligence and compared them to a genuine Fendi, they would have known.” – from MSNBC
By the mid-1980s, the law firm had accumulated thousands of the illegal knockoffs through seizures, and was looking for a way to show the U.S. public that the brand name was being protected.
With Sotomayor in charge, the firm decided in 1986 to stage a bonfire – to be known as the “Fendi Burn” – in the parking lot of the Tavern on the Green restaurant. There was a catch, however: the New York Fire Department refused to permit it.
So the firm decided on the next best thing, crushing the items in garbage trucks, in an event that came to be known as the “Fendi Crush.”
“In the presence of the press…we threw masses and masses of handbags, shoes, and other items into these garbage trucks,” Pavia recalled today. “It was the pinnacle of our achievement, and Sonia was the principal doer.” – from WSJ