Luxury home goods company Williams-Sonoma must pay a large fine for making false claims that some of its products are “Made in the USA,” marking the second time the company agreed to a settlement over mislabeling claims, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday.
Williams-Sonoma, headquartered in San Francisco, has agreed to pay a record $3.18 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for labeling Chinese-produced items as American-made, according to a DOJ statement.
The company’s brands include Williams-Sonoma Home, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Teen, PBTeen, West Elm, and Rejuvenation.
Back in 2020, the company agreed to pay $1 million under the same false label accusations. The new claims state that Williams-Sonoma has since violated the 2020 order through multiple instances of mislabeling items and misleading consumers.
One instance involves the advertising of PBTeen mattress pads between April 2022 and August 2023. The company labeled the products as “crafted in America from domestic and imported materials,” although they were “wholly imported” from China.
The FTC probe also found six products on its official website were imported or contained significant imported content but were advertised as “Made in the USA.”
“Williams-Sonoma’s deception misled consumers and harmed honest American businesses. Today’s record-setting civil penalty makes clear that firms committing Made-in-USA fraud will not get a free pass,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement.
In January 2023, the FTC settled a similar case that accused Instant Brands, the maker of Pyrex kitchenware, of falsely advertising some of its bakeware products as American-made.
The FTC alleged that Instant Brands shifted some production of its popular glass measuring cups to China from May 2021 to May 2022, according to the complaint. The move was attributed to its inability to meet demand from Amazon orders during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic when more consumers were shopping online.
The company agreed to pay a fine and change its marketing practices.
“The Justice Department will vigorously enforce laws to stop deceptive advertisers from making misleading and fraudulent claims to sell products,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, in a statement.
A Morning Consult survey published in June 2023 found nearly two-thirds of U.S. consumers said they routinely sought out “Made in America” products.
The demand for American-made goods has remained strong since early 2022 despite persistently elevated inflation, rising interest rates, and recent banking sector instability, the poll found.
NTD reached out to Williams-Sonoma for a statement but did not receive a response. The company “admits the truth to the allegations of the complaint,” according to the DOJ.
Under the new settlement, the company must also certify its compliance, which includes record-keeping and reporting obligations, for five years.
