The Lions Not Sheep brand is printed on the again door at its storefront in Bluffdale on Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. The attire firm relies in Utah. Ben B. Braun, Deseret Information
After the Federal Commerce Fee introduced a high quality in opposition to clothes model Lions Not Sheep for false claims of their clothes being utterly made in the USA, Sean Whalen, founding father of the Utah-based firm, took to social media to reply to the FTC order.
In a virtually 15 minute video, Whalen calls the state of affairs a “political witch hunt” and alleges the FTC needs to “nuke and obliterate any conservative firm they'll.”
Whalen mentioned within the video “we’ve by no means bought a single shirt that comes from China,” but in a video posted to Fb in 2020 famous within the FTC criticism, he says that whereas the corporate prints and packages gadgets in Utah, “these shirts are made in China.”
Lions Not Sheep — its title a reference to the saying “a lion doesn’t lose sleep over the opinion of sheep” — is thought for its pro-Trump and politically conservative messages and have become common throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The video appeared Tuesday after Lions Not Sheep didn't present remark for information protection concerning the FTC high quality, then canceled an interview that was being scheduled with the Deseret Information.
Lions Not Sheep had additionally issued an announcement Monday with a hyperlink to the 2020 Fb video and acknowledged that whereas the corporate doesn’t agree with the ruling, it should “settle for it and transfer on.”
Within the video posted this week, Whalen explains that the corporate buys “clean” clothes gadgets from wholesale suppliers who manufacture the bodily clothes gadgets abroad. These “blanks” are then shipped to the Lions Not Sheep warehouse in Utah the place the corporate then prints its logos or designs and assembles the clothes.
Underneath new FTC necessities put in place on August 13, 2021, for a corporation to say its gadgets are made within the U.S., “all or nearly the entire product’s components or parts are made and sourced in the USA.”
In response to Whalen, the corporate didn’t have data of the change and continued to label its clothes as made within the U.S. regardless of not assembly the brand new necessities.
“Previous to August 2021, we have been in compliance, to the most effective of our data, to the most effective of our capability, in keeping with our legal professionals and all people else, of what the FTC’s ‘Made in America’ claims have been,” Whalen mentioned within the video.
Whalen acknowledged the corporate was out of compliance for a time frame and mentioned he “owns that 150%.”
He then added they have been promoting “#FJB” shirts on the time (shorthand for an expletive directed at President Joe Biden) and the FTC “rightfully most likely got here after us.”
The FTC states within the criticism that between Might 10, 2021 and Oct. 21, 2021 tags disclosing the merchandise have been made in another country have been eliminated and changed with “Made in USA” tags on the neck.
The FTC printed a “Discover of Proposed Rulemaking” on July 16, 2020 to hunt feedback on the proposed rule tightening “Made in USA” labeling necessities.
The official rule was then printed on July 1, 2021 with an efficient date of August 13, 2021.
The FTC’s criticism says Whalen posted a video on October 8, 2020 of himself saying he can conceal the very fact the shirts are made in China by taking out “Made in China” tags and changing them with tags saying the merchandise have been made in the USA.
In response to an FTC press launch, the corporate should cease making “bogus” claims that its merchandise are “Made within the USA” and “come clear about international manufacturing.” The corporate and Whalen are being fined $211,335.
The often requested questions portion of the Lions Not Sheep web site states the corporate sources “blanks” from worldwide and home suppliers and the clean clothes are shipped to the USA from abroad.