[galligator]

Copyright laws in the US are fairly loose on 'Utilitarian' items like shoes, clothing, handbags. So, unless the 'copy' is actually using trademark/trade dress from the original company, usually imitations are perfectly legal. Whether it is ethical, artistically lazy, etc is not the point to the law. If useful item does not claim to be an actual (gucci, nike, etc), than often it is a legal copy.

Once you start stealing trademarks and trade dress that are likely to cause confusion to the purchaser and make them believe they are buying the original brand instead of a copy, that's where legal limits generally start to be enforced.