Lego has begun hand-stitching miniature leather jackets for its entire 'Queer Eye – The Fab 5 Loft' production run after a Connecticut judge ruled that the toy company copied designer James Concannon's custom jacket without permission, ordering that each of the set's figurines receive a replacement garment made to his exact specifications.
The ruling requires Lego to employ a team of leatherworkers who will cut, stitch and rivet each jacket by hand at the company's Billund factory, a process that takes forty minutes per garment and has already produced a backlog of unfinished figurines stacked in crates outside the assembly hall. A Lego spokesperson said the company has «accepted the court's decision with the seriousness it deserves» and has converted three injection-molding lines into leatherworking stations.
Concannon, who flew to Denmark to inspect the first batch, reportedly rejected the initial run because the peace-sign rivets were «too symmetrical» and demanded that each jacket be distressed individually with a small hammer. Lego has complied, hiring local craftspeople to tap each jacket between two and four times, depending on the figurine's pose.
The Fab 5 Loft set has been pulled from shelves in eleven countries while the replacement jackets are fitted. Collectors who already own the original figurines have been told to mail them back to Billund in padded envelopes, where each will be stripped, re-dressed and returned with a certificate of authenticity. A Lego spokesperson confirmed that the company now employs more leatherworkers than it does plastic engineers.