// In The Style founder Adam Frisby has won his court case after being accused by Paul Clements he stole his idea to create the brand
// The judge ruled in favour of Frisby and said “the narrative advanced by Mr Clements is a false one”
In The Style founder Adam Frisby has won his court case against Paul Clements, who accused Frisby of stealing his idea to create the online fashion brand.
On Thursday, Manchester’s High Court ruled in favour of Frisby and said “the narrative advanced by Mr Clements is a false one”.
The judge added that it was “likely” In The Style’s £105m stock market debut in 2021 “formed the motivation” for Clements asserting a claim against Frisby.
Clements appeared before the High Court in December claiming Frisby stole the name and concept of In The Style from him.
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He told the court that he had informed Frisby of his plan for the business and put up his own start-up money which Frisby “took advantage” of to set up his own company.
Clements claimed he had invested £10,330 into buying stock and creating the website and had asked Frisby to test his plans.
He said Frisby “falsely or wrongly” told him that “the business plan had no future”.
Frisby denied the claims describing them as “fraudulent” and said he created the brand “without any input or involvement of Clements”.
Commenting on the ruling, Frisby said it had put an end to what had been “the most difficult and unimaginable few months of my life”.
“The judgement confirmed I have told the entire truth and the claimant was lying in every aspect of the claim. Although I never doubted these fraudulent claims would be dismissed entirely, I cannot begin to tell you how gut-wrenching this process has been over the last 18 months.
“To know that someone has been trying to deceitfully undermine the story behind In The Style – one that I am so incredibly proud of – has been really hard to cope with. Whilst it hurts that someone tried to take away from this story with a bare faced lie, I am so thankful this nightmare is now over,” he added.
In response to the judge’s decision, Clements said: “I am extremely disappointed by the judgement, having spent two years litigating; incurred a substantial six-figure sum on legal fees and presented clear evidence to the court of my role in developing the concept for In The Style.
“I will now consider my options and whether to appeal the judgement”.
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