Chanel sued the reseller that guaranteed its bags — won on all four counts

What Goes Around Comes Around built a $150m-a-year business, by Chanel's estimate, selling vintage luxury with a '100% authenticity guarantee'. In March 2018, Chanel sued the New York reseller, arguing that only Chanel itself could guarantee a Chanel, and that WGACA's use of Coco Chanel quotations and Chanel-style marketing made shoppers believe the two companies were connected; Chanel's survey expert said 23 per cent of respondents believed WGACA 'makes handbags'. WGACA's counsel called the case 'a David v. Goliath battle between a global luxury titan and a three-store resale operation.'

After a trial, on February 6, 2024, the jury found for Chanel on all four causes of action: trademark infringement, false association and unfair competition over WGACA's use of Chanel's marks and hashtags; the same claims over its sale of non-genuine Chanel goods; trademark infringement over counterfeit goods; and false advertising. It awarded $4m in statutory damages. Co-founder Seth Weisser insisted the company had 'never in the history of the company sold a non-genuine or counterfeit product' and said the verdict turned on items 'voided in Chanel's database,' adding: 'The case is not over.'

He was right that it was not over — but the outcome got worse. On February 26, 2025, Judge Louis Stanton entered final judgment: a permanent injunction restricting WGACA's use of Chanel's trademarks and branding, the $4m in statutory damages, and disgorgement of $12,739 in profits from unauthorised Chanel-branded handbags and 779 counter-support items. In June 2025 the court rejected WGACA's bid to overturn the verdict, upheld the injunction and awarded Chanel more than half a million dollars in litigation costs, while refusing attorneys' fees: 'This is not an exceptional case.'