Sam Faiers stands accused of ripping off a small, family-run business and copying their designs after asking for tonnes of freebies.
The TOWIE star has come under fire after Laura Newman, who runs the children’s clothing company Forever Sewing, shared messages sent between them.
The messages stretching back over two years show Sam asking Laura to send her dozens of items of clothing for her pre-schooler son Paul and promising to give her business plenty of exposure on her ITV reality show Mummy Diaries.
Sam also told Laura she was interested in featuring Forever Sewing’s clothing range on her own website, even vowing to set up a face-to-face meeting so they could discuss their joint venture.
But the businesswoman was left "absolutely devastated" when Sam launched her own baby clothing range My Little Darlin, and in her words "ripped off" Forever Sewing’s designs.
Taking to Facebook, Laura slammed the former TOWIE star for her actions and sarcastically wished her a happy holiday to the Maldives, where Sam will be spending the next few days with partner Paul Knightley Snr, baby Paul and daughter Rosie.
"Absolutely devastated would be an understatement that after providing Samantha Faiers clothing for 2 years now she has decided to launch her own baby clothing range… which may I add would be absolutely fine BUT to RIP FOREVER SEWING off to the degree she has is absolutely disgusting!" a furious Laura wrote.
"Messages recorded over the last 2 years asking continuously for free clothing and sending lists upon lists all of which we have sent to her and all along she was taking them to cheap factories and matching them like for like.
"Also keeping us sweet by talking collaborations with us to work together – because she knew our brand was strong!!!!" she went on.
"For a ‘business woman’ who is in the public eye too! She doesn’t have enough money in the bank… she has to potentially jeopardise our small family run company that we have worked all hours building!! I have never been so stressed, anxious, angry and upset in all my life.
"Enjoy Maldives Samantha, I’m sure your family will be fine – let’s hope your new venture doesn’t affect ours!!!"
Screengrabs posted by Laura show Sam direct-messaging her over Instagram to ask for free clothes.
"Paul made a list haha x," Sam explained before posting her demands for personalised rompers and tracksuits for baby Paul.
In another DM, Sam asked Laura: "Could I order a couple of non hooded for paul, in navy & grey? Also I like the quilted jumpsuit thing too… we are filming so good for when we are out and about xx."
Further messages show Sam requesting more tracksuits and quilted rompers "& anything else u recommend" to be sent to her home address.
The reality star then asks Laura about collaborating with her on Sam’s own website, asking, "would u wholesale?" and suggesting they meet up in person to discuss how Sam’s site could host Forever Sewing’s personalisation orders.
But Sam and Paul recently announced the launch of their own clothing brand My Little Darlin, which features romper suits and tracksuits that can be personalised with the initials of the wearer.
The only post on My Little Darlin’s official Instagram account shows Sam’s son Paul posing with a child model in their own green tracksuits.
"Not long to we officially launch! How cute does @harlenbodhiwhite and Paul look in our handmade 100% cotton tracksuits!" the caption reads.
A spokesman for Sam told Mirror Online that Sam had given Forever Sewing lots of free publicity over the years, and had reached out to Laura as courtesy to let her know about the launch of My Little Darlin.
"Samantha was provided clothing by the brand in return for free coverage on social media, over a period of years Samantha supported the brand with free publicity across social media and in the press. The owner of the brand has previously thanked Samantha and have advised that it’s from her support that the brand has grown exponentially to the position it’s in today," he said.
"Samantha has planned to launch her own personalised clothing brand for a number of years which stocks a wide variety of styles and designs. There are hundreds of other retailers selling plain children’s tracksuits.
"Several months ago Samantha contacted the brand owners to let them know out of courtesy she was launching her own personalised children’s range, which they thanked her for letting them know."
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