5-9-2007

You walk into a department store and pick up a pair of jeans. You look at the label.

Waist: 36
Length: 32
100% Cotton
Made in the USA

Seems straight forward, right? What if you later found out the waist was actually 45? Or it was half cotton half polyester? Well it turns out some labels may have that EXACT problem when it comes to the claim that the jeans or shirt or whatever was "Made in the USA."

Dave Hansen has worked for Langlitz Leather for decades (he's now the general manager). It's a small, crowded shop in South East off of Division. He says leather is a competitive business, and he's constantly getting e-mails and phone calls from foreign companies offering up their own products for sale.

Hansen believes in providing a quality product and prefers selling items that were Made in America so it's a habit to politely decline offers from outside the country. But one e-mailer left Hansen thoroughly upset.

After declining the typical offer from a company in Pakistan, the sales rep replied stating that it's commonplace for them to provide products to American dealers . . . with "Made in the USA" labels sewn in.

Hansen again declined (this time a bit more forcefully using words like immoral and illegal).

I took the case to Jan Margosian with the Attorney General's office. She says there are no CURRENT complaints for this kind of thing but there have been issues in the past ... and the Department of Justice doesn't take this kind of thing lightly. If you're busted sending or receiving bogus labels, you are looking at a $25,000 dollar fine PER ITEM. Hansen and Margosian say these guys deal in bulk orders . . . try 50,000 coats at a time. Some quick math means ONE BUST can amount to over a BILLION dollars in fines.

And if you think this type of thing is not pursued, just ask Mike Korpi of Forest Grove. He took a recent trip to China and tried to bring a few fake Rolexes back as souvenirs for family. He was stopped at customs but didn't think much of it at first.

He's facing a fine of $55,300 . . . the watches originally cost him less than 15 bucks. At this point there's no word on whether Korpi will be allowed to appeal his fine which he claims will take him YEARS to pay off.

In the mean time, I've made several attempts at reaching the salesman in Pakistan that originally contacted hansen (by phone at every time of day and e-mail). So far, he's not responded.