Saint Laurent Drops a Retailer in T-Shirt Flap By ERIC WILSON Hedi Slimane, the designer at Saint Laurent. Yves Saint Laurent, via Getty Images Hedi Slimane, the designer at Saint Laurent. Hedi Slimane has had his share of battles with fashion critics and magazine editors during his first year as the designer of Saint Laurent. And now he is challenging a retailer who did not agree precisely with his vision for the label. On Tuesday, Sarah Andelman, the creative director and an owner of Colette, said that Saint Laurent had informed her that it was severing ties with her Paris store, one of the most influential independent retailers in the world. PARIS FASHION WEEK Coverage from in and around the Paris shows. Colette has carried Saint Laurent collections, and formerly the Yves Saint Laurent label, since 1998, and has dedicated numerous window displays to the brand, including one during the couture shows in January. Ms. Andelman (the former Sarah Lerfel) said that she was also not invited to Mr. Slimane’s spring collection on Monday night and that an appointment to buy the collection this week had been canceled. “It is so ridiculous,” Ms. Andelman said. “We need to keep our freedom. I respect their decision, but I think it is wrong.” The issue between Saint Laurent and Colette is a T-shirt, specifically one that parodies Mr. Slimane’s decision to revive a former rendering of the label as “Saint Laurent Paris.” In response, Reason, a New York company, began producing T-shirts that said, “Ain’t Laurent Without Yves.” (The company also makes shirts that ape the logos of famous brands like Hermès, Céline and Cartier, with styles that say “Homies,” “Celine Dion” and “Partier.”) While Saint Laurent is one of the top sellers for Colette, the store also began selling the parody shirts in March, and then another parody label called “What About Yves.” The parody shirts, which have been a popular fashion item for the last few years and are sold in major retailers globally, have angered many of the luxury label owners because they are concerned about damage to their brands. Ms. Andelman said that in September, the Saint Laurent company contacted her to ask her to stop selling the shirts online. She said she complied, but continued selling the remaining stock in her store on the rue St.-Honoré, which prompted further complaints. She said Colette had sold out of the shirts, which cost about $40, by Sept. 21, and did not plan to reorder them. She then received a letter dated Sept. 25 from Francesca Bellettini, the chief executive of Saint Laurent, a copy of which she provided to The New York Times, informing her that the company would stop doing business with Colette. Additionally, Ms. Andelman said, she was informed by the publisher of Document, an independent magazine, that a store event for the magazine could not go forward because one of its covers included a photograph taken by Mr. Slimane. A spokeswoman for Saint Laurent declined to comment on Ms. Andelman’s complaints on Tuesday and said that the company’s relationships with retailers are confidential. The decision to stop selling Saint Laurent at Colette is unusual not only because of the reputation of the store – many small retailers study its merchandising carefully to determine what to buy for their own stores – but also because of the size of the business. For the 2013 spring and fall collections, Ms. Andelman ordered more than 440,000 euros worth of merchandise at wholesale, which would translate into retail sales of more than a million euros if sold at full price. Ms. Andelman had already placed an order for the spring men’s wear collection for 2014, to the amount of 110,191 euros at wholesale, which she said was canceled by Saint Laurent in the wake of the complaints against her store. She said she had planned to spend as much on the women’s collection. Ms. Andelman acknowledged the T-shirts might have been in poor taste and that her decision to sell them could be faulted. But she said she agreed to stop selling them hastily when Saint Laurent complained, although she believed they did not hinder the sales of Mr. Slimane’s collection, which is sold on another floor. In fact, Colette nearly sold out of more than 600 pieces it bought for spring and has already sold a third of its fall orders. “We were loyal and for me it was a nice relationship,” she said. “I can’t believe this is just for a stupid T-shirt. ”