Chrome Hearts, Nordstrom, and Contemporary Fashion’s Rebuke of the Logo
4 hours ago
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Over the past decade, the emergence of a rapid-paced trend cycle, driven by virality and product accessibility, has led to a rise in the popularity of inexpensive knockoffs of luxury goods, known as “dupes.”[1] A few brands successfully outlast single trend cycles to become fixtures of Contemporary American aesthetics; one such brand is Los Angeles-founded Chrome Hearts. [2] No brand has so successfully captured the rock and roll, anti-establishment aura quite as well, and the brand’s ubiquity among talent industries has anchored the brand’s position as a mainstay of Contemporary American Fashion.[3] Chrome Hearts, though, is not known to consumers by its logo; rather, the brand's distinctive silver gothic cross is its calling card.[4]
In early June 2026, Chrome Hearts filed suit against department store Nordstrom, bringing claims of trademark infringement and counterfeiting, false designation of origin, unfair competition under California Code, and common law trademark infringement.[5] The complaint alleged that Nordstrom sold jewelry and accessories that employed designs that were “substantially indistinguishable” from Chrome Hearts’ federally registered “CH Cross” and “CH Plus” trademarks.[6] In particular, a Nordstrom-designed belt uses the silver gothic cross to almost exactly mimic a belt designed by Chrome Hearts.[7] The complaint raises fascinating questions relating to the nature of ornamentation and iconographic imagery as potential design elements that may be deserving of trademark protection.[8] Though the dispute settled out of court in September, it provides a relevant lens for examining how brands may assert that design motifs be protected as recognizable brand indicators worthy of protection.[9]
As trademark protection is most easily acquired for marks that are inherently distinctive in some way, a brand like Chrome Hearts can most successfully deploy trademark protection of its design elements if it can prove its decorative elements are inherently distinctive.[10] Though the dispute settled out of court, the protectability of the brand's gothic cross motif presents a challenge, as generic marks will never be protected as a trademark, regardless of how extensively the mark is used.[11] Although the gothic cross is distinct from a typical cross, the post-pandemic trend cycle has revitalized the discussion of the fashion industry’s use of the religious symbol, and the ubiquity of modified cross designs creates a distinctiveness challenge for Chrome Hearts.[12] Though exploring whether or not a modified cross–here, a gothic cross–can exist as a protectable asset implicates the murkier debate of how religious symbols can and should be used in non-religious ways[13], the cross's preeminence among contemporary jewelry trends is clear.[14]
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