is a clothing company that originated in the United Kingdom, but is now available worldwide. It was founded in 1969 and sells menswear, womenswear, childrenwear and accessories aimed at a youthful demographic.
"fcuk"
In April 1997, French Connection began branding their clothes 'fcuk' (always written in lower case). Though they insisted it was an acronym for French Connection United Kingdom, its similarity to the word fuck caused controversy. French Connection fully exploited this and printed out t-shirts with messages such as 'fcuk this', 'high Mile fcuk', 'fcuk me', 'too busy to fcuk' and more. The company recently announced that the fcuk label is to be phased out.
Family-oriented locations like Walt Disney World have policy against such clothing with the brand's abbreviated name and ask guests to change their clothing, or turn it inside out.
Distribution
French Connection has distributing stores worldwide. It predominately sells its clothing through its own stores, though many other shops stock its ranges. In the United States, their fcuk brand has been extremely controversial: many stores, such as Neiman Marcus and Robinson's May, refuse to carry the brand, while many parents argue that the shirt's messages could harm their children.
Legal cases
A trademark infringement case brought by French Connection against the political youth organisation Conservative Future , which had adopted the spoof abbrevation 'cfuk' (short for 'Conservative Future UK'), was thrown out by a judge on the grounds that French Connection's 'fcuk' was merely an offensive misspelling and so not worthy of genuine trademark status.
It has also been reported that a Scottish judge expelled a juror in a case for wearing one of the fcuk range of T-shirts, considering it to be obscene.