Louis Vuitton is facing serious allegations of racial discrimination, as a lawsuit filed by Tracy Renee Williams and her daughter Brandi claims the two were treated unfairly at multiple Louis Vuitton stores due to their race.
According to TMZ, Williams had preordered approximately $50,000 worth of items from a Louis Vuitton store in Costa Mesa but never received her order.
When she attempted to resolve the issue at the Beverly Hills location, a white manager allegedly told her she was no longer welcome at the store and would be arrested if she returned.
According to the Daily Mail the email to Tracy read: ‘Dear Mrs. Tracy Williams: It has come to our attention that Louis Vuitton has been unable to satisfy your needs.
‘Please be advised that Louis Vuitton is no longer prepared to do business with you and we ask that you no longer patronize our boutiques or attempt to order our products via telephone, online, or in person at any Louis Vuitton store.
‘Please do not make further attempts to contact the stores. Any further attempts to communicate with Louis Vuitton should be directed to our Legal Department in writing to: Attn: General Counsel, Louis Vuitton Americas, 1 East 57th Street, New York, New York 10022.’
In a striking twist, Williams later sent her white assistant to the same store, and he was able to make a large purchase in cash without any problems.
As a content creator who reviews Louis Vuitton products, Williams claims that being banned from the brand has cost her around $40,000 per month in lost income.
Her daughter, Brandi, also reported discriminatory treatment.
She claims a manager at the Beverly Hills store refused to serve her, accusing her of spending “drug money” and threatening to call the police if she didn’t leave.
Brandi says she experienced similar discrimination at a Louis Vuitton store in New Orleans.
A family friend, Kristopher Enoch, joined the lawsuit after he, too, encountered racial bias. Enoch alleges that a white customer was shown a jacket he wanted to purchase, only to be told later that the item was unavailable when he inquired about it. He also received an email stating that he was blacklisted from Louis Vuitton stores.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages and are asking the court to force Louis Vuitton to stop blacklisting them from its stores.
According to the filing, the Beverly Hills and Costa Mesa store placed blame on each other for the situations.
She even got in touch with the vice president of the company, who told him ‘he could do nothing about it’ and directed her to the brand’s legal team, the lawsuit said.
Tracy has not heard back from the brand’s legal representatives, the lawsuit claimed.
The legal filing went on to reference Oprah Winfrey’s ‘experience with invidious race-based discrimination’ with Louis Vuitton when the store refused to sell her a handbag in 2015.
‘This bag is for the Italian people; it’s only for the Italian people,’ the talk show host, who addressed about the situation in a video, recalled an Italian sales clerk saying to her at the time.
The three plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial and are suing for race discrimination under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, business discrimination, tortious breach of contract, and theft, according to the lawsuit.
