The South Butt Vs. The North Face

Homecoming dances, acne, general awkwardness and mocking those who are different from you are all critical parts of high school life. Jimmy Winkelmann, turned the latter into a business in 2007, creating The South Butt to goof on peers who wore the The North Face.

southbuttlogo.jpg

The South Butt ‘s Logo

Forget about TNF’s motto, “Never Stop Exploring,” the TSB jokes, “Never Stop Relaxing.”

Even if you’re smiling, TNF’s squad of lawyers were not and took TSB to court arguing the parody brand was confusing to the buying public. But the day before proceedings were to begin, the two settled out of court Friday, April 2, according to the American Daily Lawyer blog. Terms were not disclosed and lawyers on both sides refused to comment about the details of the settlement.

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Jimmy Winkelmann, creator of The South Butt

It looks like the parody brand will continue. As of this writing, products ranging from T-shirts and fleece jackets to backpacks and baby onesies were still available online.

And Winkelmann? Now a college freshman, he seems to be doing okay, too. According to a recent South Butt facebook post, he’s in Florida on spring break, in a hotel room with a killer view of the ocean and “partying hard in panama city with south butt.”

Sounds like he’s both exploring and relaxing, an amicable compromise.

—Stephen Krcmar

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Commenting on post : The South Butt Vs. The North Face
Posted by ragman - 05/05/2010 11:28 AM

The settlement probably goes something like this. South Butt will not and can not sell the logo brand that looks like the North Face logo brand to retailers.In other words the parody stays where it belongs under free speech on the internet and sales take place only there.
This is just my opinion and having 40 years of experience in branded textile products I think this is a good opinion. It would be fair to the public to know what is really being allowed since so much of the public decides what they buy and where they buy it and from who.
After all, a parody is about free speech so why aren’t the companies speaking??

Posted by Terry Rose - 10/20/2011 07:35 PM

I missed the south butt boat and wanna buy a hoodie without the “e” (not south butte) Is there anywhere left to find these?

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