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WORLD selling apparel from Bangladesh, China as‘ Made in NZ '
Controversy has stirred over‘ business ethics’ after an investigative report revealed that global brand‘ WORLD’ is selling apparel items sourced from Bangladesh as‘ Made in New Zealand’. The Spinoff, a New Zealand online opinion and commentary magazine, published an investigative report in this regard, which revealed that multiple garments labelled as‘ Made in New Zealand’ are actually manufactured in China and Bangladesh. For the past seven years, the‘ WORLD’ brand, Co-founded by New Zealand’ s most outspoken critic of off-shore manufacturing Denise L’ Estrange- Corbet, has been selling T-shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants manufactured in Bangladesh and China and bought through AS Colour, the report states.
Soon after the news surfaced, L’ Estrange-Corbet said that the company has not misled customers by attaching‘ Made in New Zealand’ tags to some garments manufactured off-shore. She defended that‘ WORLD’ had made no attempt to conceal where the garments were made. She said some garments were made in Bangladesh, despite the swing tags stating otherwise.“ I’ ve never had anyone come back and say that they were misled by this in the seven years we have been doing this … I would have thought the New Zealand public was a bit smarter than that and could actually see the tag sewn into the garment which quite plainly states where it is made,” she was quoted as saying. She said most customers asked for the swing tag to be taken off at the point of sale.
This news comes at a time when Bangladesh’ s apparel makers are crying out to the world, demanding for ethical pricing of their products which are made through cheapest labour costs in the world.
Burberry files US $ 2 mn lawsuit against Target to protect its iconic‘ checks '
Best known for their iconic trench coats and checkered pattern scarves, British fashion house Burberry has filed a lawsuit against American retail giant Target Corp. for allegedly copying its check design on their products. The lawsuit in NY’ s Federal Court cited that even after having knowledge about Burberry’ s trademark rights, Target kept on selling products counterfeiting the British fashion brand’ s designs.
Importantly, the brand feels that with Target’ s reputation of collaborating with big brands, the customers can easily be manipulated to believe that the products on Target are endorsed by Burberry. Furthermore, the UK-based clothing and accessories designer has demanded that Target must immediately stall the selling of‘ in-dispute’ pattern-made scarves, luggage, eyewear and home products.
Burberry even reportedly claimed that it asked Target last year to stop such sales but they went on and it hampered their profits and reputation and therefore, the company seeks US $ 2 million for the trademark violation. Markedly, a spokesperson from Target has said that the retailer is well aware of all the allegations made by Burberry and“ will sort this out in a reasonable manner”. Interestingly, Burberry’ s check patterns have been registered by them in red, black and white. The luxury fashion brand also claims that they have the rights to use it in any colour combination of their choice which they have been doing for nearly 100 years.
12 Apparel Online India | JUNE 1-15, 2018 | www. apparelresources. com