I don't buy all that much from Williams-Sonoma. When they had a store in Copley Place, I dropped in on occasion and bought something (small) or another - for myself (when I was still in acquire-for-the-kitchen mode) or as a host(ess) gift.
But I like their merch just fine.
Mostly ditto for Pottery Barn, which is part of the Williams-Sonoma empire, although with Pottery Barn, I've been as apt to order online as go into a store. Take my duvet cover and pillow shams, which were new last year. (I just got sick of the "old" Pottery Barn duvet cover and pillow shams. But I've hung onto them for when I tire of the current look.)
My main association with Williams-Sonoma, however, is through my cousin.
She has an old and very close friend - an excellent cook and entertainer - who, after she retired, went to work at Williams-Sonoma, largely for the employee discount.
Not only did G fit out her kitchen with fabulous W-S cookware, dishware, and other kitchen-y items, she stocked up on it to use as Christmas, birthday, wedding, and engagement gifts. And stock up she did.
Many years ago, the old friend had done an extensive renovation at her home on the Cape, and invited my cousin over for a tour. I was visiting, so went along for the ride. Part of the show-and-tell was a trip through G's basement, which looked like a W-S storeroom. Boxes were piled to the ceiling, and the only free space in the basement was a path to the washer and dryer.
For years, every Christmas, my cousin and her daughters-in-law could count on something-or-other from W-S. One year they all got a pizzelle maker.
Anyway, I do know both first and second hand that, while the stores are plenty pricey, items from Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn, tend to be plenty high-quality, too.
What I never bothered to notice was where those pricey, high-quality items were said to be made.
Come to find out, some of them were made in the USA. Or not.
As it happened, in late April, the Department of Justice hit Williams-Sonoma with a $3.17 M fine:
...for violating a 2020 order that required the company to be truthful about where its products were made. That order stemmed from a previous lawsuit against Williams-Sonoma that also ended with the company agreeing to a $1 million fine.
Most of the products that Williams-Sonoma (and, under that umbrella brand, Pottery Barn and West Elm, among others) were claiming were home-grown had been made in China.
What the company had been doing was using its catalogue and website to promote products as "Made in the USA," using phrasing like “crafted in America from domestic and imported materials.” I guess their definition of "crafted" was to slap something into W-S or PB or whatever packaging. When the items were delivered, it was clear from the labeling that they had been "Made in China." (The FTC had been tipped off by someone who bought a Pottery Barn mattress pad.)
The $3.17M fine is the largest levied to date for deceptive "Made in USA."
“Williams-Sonoma’s deception misled consumers and harmed honest American businesses," FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in a statement last week. "Today’s record-setting civil penalty makes clear that firms committing Made-in-USA fraud will not get a free pass.”
The company will also be required to "submit annual compliance certifications."
I always think of Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn as pretty high end brands. (By my standards, anyway.) But this is just sleezy behavior that's making me rethink these "names."
There are plenty of folks who don't mind paying extra for something that's USA-made. (Sometimes, but not always, I'm one of them.) They/we should be able to without worrying about whether the store is trying to slip something by them/us.
Shame on Williams-Sonoma.
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