Home products retailer Williams-Sonoma will have to pay almost $3.2 million for violating a Federal Trade Commission “Made in USA” order.
Williams-Sonoma was charged with advertising multiple products as being “Made in USA” when they were in fact manufactured in other countries, including China. That violated a 2020 commission order requiring the San Francisco-based company to be truthful about whether its products were in fact made in the U.S.
The FTC said Friday that Williams-Sonoma has agreed to a settlement, which includes a $3.175 million civil penalty. That marks the largest-ever civil penalty seen in a “Made in USA” case, the commission said.
“Williams-Sonoma’s deception misled consumers and harmed honest American businesses,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said. “Today’s record-setting civil penalty makes clear that firms committing Made-in-USA fraud will not get a free pass.”
In addition to paying the penalty, the seller of cookware and home furnishings will be required to submit annual compliance reports, the FTC said. The settlement also imposes and reinforces a number of requirements about manufacturing claims the company can make.
That’s like, what… The cost of three “Made in USA” Williams Sonoma credenzas?
You spelled “three plastic spatulas” wrong.
That’s why I always get my spatulas from Spatula City! In fact, if you buy nine spatulas, you get the tenth one for just one penny!
Shut up! 10 for the price of 9, hell YES! I am totally phoning in my order now. Operators are standing by you know.
For real I had that written out but couldn’t remember if they sold spatulas.
The 7 products found to be made outside of the USA probably didn’t make enough net profit to cover these fines much less the mandatory annual compliance reports.
Keep in mind this is out of brands including “Goldtouch, Rejuvenation, Pottery Barn Teen and Pottery Barn Kids brands” which is a lot of products, so if anything this report shows they’re honest 97% of the time. To me, that’s a lot more surprising.