FRENCH CONNECTION, the fashion retailer, has told an Irish T-shirt producer to FCEK off and withdraw a range of shirts because it said the design infringed its own trademark, the controversial FCUK slogan.

David Johnson, a T-shirt designer from Dublin, decided to pull his designs, which included the words FCEK, the Irish Connection, after French Connection said it would take legal action.

Carroll’s, the Irish gift store, which sold the T-shirts, and Fashion Flow, a Dublin-based distribution firm, were also sent writs by the clothing firm.

French Connection said: “We did request that they stop all trading in relation to these T-shirts. We have to protect our trademark and FCEK and FCUK are just too similar.”

The FCEK logo was a shortlived success. The distribution company working alongside Johnson said that in excess of 10,000 T-shirts were produced before the plug was pulled on the venture. Despite the ban, replicas of the T-shirt are still on sale.

It made its debut at the Chelsea Flower Show last June when Diarmuid Gavin, the celebrity gardener, wore one in deference to his Irish origins.

Johnson registered the FCEK name last year but was ordered to cease making printing within months of the T-shirts going on sale. He said he gave the company an immediate undertaking that the logo would stop.

“The idea was very innocent. I thought it was quirky. I had no intention of taking on French Connection,” said Johnson.

Carroll’s, which has stopped selling the T-shirts, settled the dispute after it was threatened with High Court proceedings. Fashion Flow said it has made an offer to French Connection.

The company said: “When we were initially approached, it didn’t occur that this would cause problems. Three months into the project, we were landed with a writ on behalf of French Connection telling us we had infringed on their brand and caused collateral damage.”

FCUK, the company’s infamous slogan, was introduced in 1997 and provoked a storm of controversy. At the height of its popularity, the logo was an international talking point.

A judge in England once famously barred a juror for wearing a FCUK T-shirt. The American Family Association launched a nationwide campaign to ban it.

French Connection announced a fall in sales last week. Over the past three months, sales in British and European stores fell by nearly a fifth. The firm said its profits will be “significantly” down on the £38m (€54m) it made last year.

The company blamed its range of winter clothes for the drop.