Casey Springer just wanted to walk and look hot while doing it.
The 40-year-old from Broad Ripple started a club so others could join her. In her vision, “the girls, gays and theys” would meet up every week to explore new parts of the city.
“What if just one person comes? Is that a success?” Springer’s therapist asked as they workshopped the idea.
“It’s just walking,” Springer replied. “If you build it, they will come.”
And come, they did. A year later, Hot Walk Indy has organized at least 60 free walks and boosted their events to thousands of followers with pretty Instagram graphics. They have branded stickers, free sunscreen and drink deals with local bars. Springer became a tour guide, a mover and shaker for fellow millennials, the person who helped you meet your best friend. She does not make any money off the club and financed it herself.
Folks like Sophie Gordon, 29, love the walks. Gordon was nervous about the social scene when she moved from Chicago to downtown Indianapolis. Then she and her chihuahua, Artie, found Hot Walk Indy.
“It’s a good way to get out and meet new people,” Gordon said. “It made my transition to the city so much easier.”
But now, all that community-building is threatened by a social media influencer from California suing Springer on accusations of trademark infringement, defamation and social media doxxing.
Mia Lind, 25, created Hot Girl Walk while attending the University of Southern California and later trademarked it, according to her website. The trend, which had 616 million views on TikTok at one point, blew up during the pandemic as young women filmed themselves walking and, well, being hot. Lind has Barbie-esque branding and partnerships with Zyrtec, Weight Watchers and lululemon; her empire was built by holding Hot Girl Walk events across the country and selling $75 sweatshirts.
She also, it turns out, has been sending cease-and-desist letters to other walking groups with similar names.
In a federal lawsuit filed July 15, Lind claims her beef with Springer is beyond just the name. The lawsuit says Springer activated a social media army to destroy Lind’s brand in a campaign of “envy and jealousy.” There’s a laundry list of accusations: that Springer signed Lind up for spam calls; doxxed her family members’ social media accounts in a group chat; edited her Wikipedia page to label her a bully; and reported Hot Girl Walk’s social media pages to Facebook for child sex abuse in an attempt to tarnish the brand’s image.
“When I created Hot Girl Walk, I never expected something like this to happen,” Lind said in a statement sent to Mirror Indy. “Ms. Springer’s words and actions are very scary, and this was my only choice to protect me, my family and my company.”
Springer would not comment to Mirror Indy on the details of the lawsuit.
“We just want to make friends and walk, you know?” she said. “I wasn’t going into this to hire an attorney.”
Hot Girl Walk legal challenge comes to Indiana
A day after the lawsuit was filed, Hot Walk Indy rebranded as We Walk Indy. It’s the second name change in a year.
In July 2023, Lind took issue with the group’s original name, Hot Girl Walk Indy and reached out to Springer about the trademark and affiliating the local group with the Hot Girl Walk brand. When Springer blocked Lind and didn’t change the name, per the lawsuit, Hot Girl Walk Indy’s Instagram profile was reported to Meta and accused of trademark infringement. Springer lost the account on her birthday.
“I felt awful and defeated,” Springer said. “But I’m not willing to give up because of the community I’m building.”
The group was already in the process of rebranding to Hot Walk Indy, which was more inclusive anyway, she said: “We’re more than just girls.”
Still, Lind wasn’t satisfied with that name change. Her 35-page filing with the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana claimed the name “Hot Walk Indy” still infringes on her trademark and asked the judge for compensatory and punitive damages.
This isn’t the first Hot Girl Walk lawsuit. That crown belongs to a Miami walking club Lind accused of trademark infringement and unfair competition in a lawsuit that settled last month.
Other women’s walking clubs in Utah and Pittsburgh have also received cease and desists from Lind and were forced to change their names, according to comments on Springer’s Instagram posts about the legal saga.
A representative for Lind said she messages groups using the Hot Girl Walk name to let them know about the trademark and offers to collaborate. When a group does not respond or declines to change their name, they receive a cease-and-desist letter.
“Brands are required by law to protect their trademarks, or risk losing them,” a statement from Hot Girl Walk LLC reads. “Only a small handful of letters were sent to walking groups.”
Indianapolis walkers described their club as a source of friendship and inclusion — something that shouldn’t be shut down because of an influencer living in another state.
“If that (Lind and her legal team) had the same mission of trying to bring people together and build community, they wouldn’t be doing this,” said Brianna Garr-Bland, 29, who participates in the Indy walks. “It just seems like bullying.”
There are hints Springer agrees: an Instagram follower asked about Lind and why Hot Walk Indy had to change its name.
Springer’s reply was only in emojis: four flying-dollar bills.
A correction was made July 18: An earlier version of this story misidentified the name of Sophie Gordon’s dog, Artie.
Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at 317-721-7648 or email maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.
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