An accessory designer took a fashion designer to court over non payment in a rather unusual move, and won. Fashion designer Rakesh Agarvwal has been ordered by a Delhi court to pay Rs 65,000 for using footwear by shoe designer Samir Singh Bajaj in his show at Lakme Fashion Week last year.
“I’d delivered my shoe collection to Agarvwal as per the deal but he refused to pay me citing baseless reasons,” says Bajaj. “When I approached him, he kept saying he was busy. At last when I got the cheque, it bounced. I feel vindicated now.”
Agarvwal, however, has a different story to tell. “I never used his collection, as he could not deliver the shoes on time. Those that he did were not upto the mark, so my models had to wear their own shoes. Where is the question of payment?”
“Bajaj calls himself a shoe designer but those were Christian Louboutin shoes and he was just getting them for me. I’ve emails from him saying ‘I’ll charge 10% commission and get you the shoes on factory price but don’t tell this to anyone as it puts me in a tight spot’,” he says.
While Bajaj insists he has proof in the form of pictures from the show, Agarvwal calls Bajaj a ‘habitual publicity seeker’. “He earlier ditched Rohit Bal and Tarun Tahiliani also,” he says. When contacted, Tahiliani said, “Bajaj didn’t cheat me but misbehaved, which annoyed me a lot.” “I don’t want to comment on that man,” said Bal.