Kitchen and home retail company Williams-Sonoma agreed to pay nearly $3.2 million for failing to comply with a 2020 administrative order by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) prohibiting its marketing of imported goods as made in the United States.

As part of its settlement, announced Friday by the FTC and Department of Justice (DOJ), Williams-Sonoma admitted its failure to comply with the 2020 order. The penalty is the largest addressing violations of the FTC’s “Made in USA” rule, which was updated in August 2021.

The company also agreed to certain compliance commitments, including reporting, recordkeeping, and monitoring obligations, the FTC said.

The details: In March 2020, Williams-Sonoma agreed to stop making overly broad and misleading claims about its products being made in USA, according to a press release at the time.

The FTC defines made in USA as “any representation, express or implied, that a product or service, or a specified component thereof, is of U.S.-origin, including, but not limited to, a representation that such product or service is ‘made,’ ‘manufactured,’ ‘built,’ ‘produced,’ or ‘crafted’ in the United States or in America, or any other U.S.-origin claim.”

In 2020, Williams-Sonoma agreed to submit reports certifying its compliance with the FTC’s order.

Between April 2022 and August 2023, the agency became aware the company was marketing mattress pads made in China under its PBTeen brand as “[c]rafted in America from domestic and imported materials,” according to the DOJ’s complaint.

Following this discovery, the agency launched an investigation into six other products the company advertised as made in USA and found they also violated the 2020 order.

The FTC referred the case to the DOJ on a 3-0 vote, which in turn filed a complaint and issued a consent decree in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

“[T]his settlement sets a new standard for excellence in enforcement and underscores that robust injunctive and monetary relief are the consequences facing those whose deception undercuts American producers and workers,” FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said in a statement, joined by Chair Lina Khan and Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya.

Compliance considerations: Williams-Sonoma agreed to annually certify its compliance program for five years, submit a compliance report in one year, and provide compliance notices of certain changes for 20 years, per the settlement agreement.

Williams-Sonoma, which includes brands Pottery Barn and West Elm, did not respond to a request for comment.

Jeff Dale is Managing Editor, Editorial Projects and Analytics, at Compliance Week. He previously served as Compliance Week's Digital Editor and has worked as a copy editor at the Boston Herald and city editor at The Hour Publishing Co. in Norwalk, Conn.View full Profile

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