North Face calls new Butt clothing brand contemptible

Listen to this article

By Heather Cole
Dolan Newswires

The Butt is back.

The owners of the South Butt parody clothing brand agreed never to show their butt again — or, at least, brands that could be confused with The North Face — when they settled a 2010 lawsuit.

But the appearance of a new brand, “The Butt Face,” violates that agreement, according to a motion for contempt filed in federal court by The North Face Apparel Corp. lawyers Friday.

Within two days of the entry of a consent injunction over South Butt in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, South Butt General Manager James A. Winkelmann Sr. formed a new company, Why Climb Mountains, and started selling a Butt Face clothing line (tagline: “Never stop smiling!”), according to a court filing signed by Michael Kahn, an attorney representing North Face.

James Winkelmann Jr., a South Butt member, also is named in the filing, a memo that accompanies the motion.

The motion for contempt asks for unspecified damages and attorneys’ fees, and North Face wants them quickly.

“The Winkelmanns used the original lawsuit as a lucrative marketing device to promote sales of their infringing products through a media blitz,” Kahn, of The Brickhouse Law Group, said in the motion. “We assume they will attempt to same here. Thus the sooner this matter is heard and resolved, the better.”

Albert Watkins, an attorney representing South Butt, could not immediately be reached for comment.

A hearing is set for Aug. 14.