General Recreation Industries, Inc.

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IN THE MATTER OF GENERAL RECREATION INDUSTRIES, INC., ET AL. CO:XSENT ORDER, ETC. , IN REGARD 1'0 THE ALLEGED VIOLATION OF THE FEDERAL '1'R.1DE COM:MISSION .ACT Docket 0-631. Complaint, Dec. 11, 1963-Decision, Dec. , 1963 Consent order requiring Minneapolis, Minn., manufacturers of sleeping bags to cease attaching fictitious price labels to their sleeping bags, and distribut. ing to -retailers and others catalogs containing excessive "list prices, represented thereby as usual retail sellng prices; and misreprcscnting the size of tbe bags by giving, on attached labels and in catalogs, the cut size, which was larger than the actual size. COMFLAIK"

Pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act and by virtue of the authority vested in it by said Act, the Federal Trade' Commission, having reason to beheve that General I-ecrcation 1688 FEDERAL TRADb C02\IMISSION DECISIONS C0ll1)laiJlt Industries, Ine" n corporation, and Iorton G. Brown, Emanuel 1\1. Green, Myron B. Green, Sol Kronick and Herschal ' Wolpert, individually and as offcers of said corporation, hereinafter referred to as respondents, lull violated the provisions of sa.id Act and it appearing to the Commission that a proceeding by it in respect. thereor l\'ould be in the public interest hereby issues its complaillt stat.ing its charges in that respect as follo,,- \n.\GR\lli 1. Respondent General Recreation lndust.ries, Inc., is a corporation, organized, existing and doing business under ann by virlne of the laws or the State or Jlinncsota with its principal ofliee and place of business located at 29 ~Iain Street, S. , Minneapolis 14 i\Iinne.sota.

Respondents J\Jorton G. Brown, Emanllel I. Green 1yron B. Green, Sol Kronick and Herscha! 1" oIpert arc offcers of the corporate. respondent. They formu1atc direct and control the acts and practices of the corporate respondent, including t.he acts and practices hereinafter set forth. Their address is the same as that. of the corporate respondent.

PAR. 2. Respondents are now and for some time la.st past hane been, e.ngaged in the manufacturing, advertising, oH'ering for sale, sale and dislribution of sleeping bags to retailers for resale to the public, PAR. 3. In the course and conduct of their business, respondents now cause" ' and for some time last past have caused, thoir said products, when sold, t.o be shipped from their place of business in the State of J\Iinnesota to purchasers thereof located in various other Stat.es of the United States, and maintain, and at an times mentioned herein have maintained, a substantial course of trade in said products in commerce, as "colllmerce" is defined in the Federal Trade Commission Aet.

PAR, 4. Hespondents, for the purpose of inducing the purchase of their products, have engaged in the practice of using fictitious prices in connection therewith, and misrepresenting the size of said products by various methods and means, typical but not an inclusive of which are the following:

(a) By attaching, or causing to be attached tickets or tags to their said sleeping bags upon which a certain amount is printed and, by distributing, or causing to be distributed, to retailers, and others catalogs descrjbjng, among other things, respondents' sleeping bags and containing a stated price of each, thereby representing, directly or by implication\ that the amounts so state.d are the usual and regu lat retail price of said sleeping bags. Among and typical of the GENEHAL RECHEATIOK LNDDSTHIES , J?\C. ) ET AL. 1689 16S7 Cumplaint statements on the price tickets or tags attached thereto are the following:

$11. . $13. . $15. , $19.95, $21.95, $29. 95, $34.0 and $55. Among and typical of the statements in that connection contained in respondents' recent catalog arc the following: List Price: $11.50, List Price: $34. Lii"t Price: $13. List Price: $34.50, List Price: SI5. List Price: 3(j.95, List Price: $18. List Prke: $37. List Price: $19. List Price: $3S. List Price: $21.50 List Price: $30, List Price: 822. List Price: $40, List Price: $22.95, List Price: $42,00, List Price: $24. List Price: $42. List Price: $26.50, List Price: $44. List Price: $27.50, List Price: $45, List Price: $29.95, List Price: $48, List Price: $32.00, Lbt Price: $55. List Price: $60, In the manner aforesaid, through stating a specified price and also by using the word "List Price" followed by a specified price in their catalogs tnd othenvise, respondents represented, and now represent, that said amounts .,ere and arc the prices at which the merchandise referred io were and are usually and customarily sold at retail. In truth and in fact, the amounts stated on the tickets, tags or labels and those set out in connection ,with the word "List Price their catalogs, and otherwise, ,were not the prices at which the merchandise referred to was usually and customarily sold at retail in the trade areas ,,-here such representations were and are made, but ?ere in excess of prices at which said merchandise generally sells at retail in some of the trade areas where the representations ,,-ere and are made.

(b) By attaching, or causing to be attached, labels to their sleeping bags stating the " cut size:' of the sleeping bags, which is larger than the act.ual size of the bag in question. Although the "approx. fin. size" followed by a listing of dimension therefor currently appears on la.bels being used and attached to sa.id sleeping bags, the same does not appear in immediate conjunction with tlw, wording " cut size Further respondents list the "cut size" only in their cat.alogs describing their said sleeping bags and the di1nensions listed therein are almost invariably larger than the actual size of the bag described. The tenn " cut size when used in the ma,nner alleged above, is confusing and tenus to indicate that such description is the actual size of 1690 FEDERAL TRADB COMMISSION DECISIONS Decision and Ordcr 63 F.

the finished products. In the manner aforesaid respondents represent that the dimension of the sleeping bag following the v.,irds " cut size is the actual size of the sleeping bag.

In truth and in fact the actual size of the finished product is smaller than the size set out on the label or in the catalog following the words cut size Therefore, the statements and representations and acts and prac tices set forth above are false, misleading and deceptive. PAR. 5. By the aforesaid statements, representations, acts and practices respondents place in the hands of the uninformed or unscrupulous retailers means and instrumentalities by and through which they mlly mislead the public as to the usual and regular price of and the size of said products.

PAR. 6. In the course and conduct of their said business, and at all times mentioned herein, respondents have been engaged in substantial competition in commerce with corporations, firms and individuals in the sale of products of the same general kind and nature as those sold by respondents.

PAR. 7. The use by respondents of the aforesaid false, misleading and deceptive statements, representations and practices has had, and now has, the capacity and tendency to mislead members of the pur. chasing public into the erroneous and mistaken belief that said statements and representations 'were and arc true and into the purchase of substantial quantities of respondents' products by reason of said erroneous and mistaken belief.

PAR. 8. The aforesaid acts and practices of respondents, as herein alleged, were, and are, all to the prejudice and injury of the public and of respondents' competitors and constituted, and now constitute unfair methods of competition in commerce and unfair and decept.ive acts and practices in commerce, in violation of Section 5(a) (1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

DECISION AXD OUDER The Commission having heretofore determined to issue its complaint. charging the respondents named in the caption hereof with violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act, and the respondents having been served with notice of sa.id determination and with a copy of the c.complaint the Commission intended to issue, together with a proposed form of order; and The respondents and counsel for the Commission having thereafter executed an agreement containing a consent order, an admission by respondents of all the jurisdictional facts set forth in the complaint to , GE'NERAL RECREATl,ON IKD1JSTRIDS, INC., ET AL, 1691 His, Decision alld Order issue herein, a statement that the signing of said agreement is for settement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by respondents that the law has been violated as set forth in such complaint, and waivers and provisions as required by the Commission rules; and The Comm ission, having considered the agreement, hereby accepts same, issues its complaint in the form contemplat.ed by said agreement, makes the follo\ving jurisdictional findings, and enters the following order:

1. Respondent General Recreation Industries, Inc., is a corporation organized, existing and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Minnesota, with its offce and principal place of business located at 29 Main Street, S. , in the City of Minneapolis , State of Minnesota.

Respondents Morton G. Brown, Emanuel 1\1. Green, Myron B. Green, Sol Kronick andlIerschal .Wolpert are offcers of said corporat.ion, and their address is the same as that of said corporation. 2. The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction of the subject matter of this proceeding- and of the respondents, and the proceeding is in the public interest.

ORDER I tis orde"ied That respondents General Recreat.ion Industries, Inc. a corporation, and its officers, l\lorton G. Brown, Emanuel :JL Green Myron B. Green, Sol Kronick and Herschal .Wolpert, individually and as offcers of said corporation, their agents, representatives and employees, directly or through any corporate or other device, in connection with the manufacture, ofiering for sale, sale or dist.ribution of sleeping bags or other merchandise in commerce as "commerce" i defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act, do forthwith cease and desist from:

1. Advertising, labeling, representing in a catalog or otherwise representing the "cut" cut size" or dimensions of material used in their construction, unless such representation is accompanied by a description of the finished or actual size, in immediate conjunction therewith with the latter description being given at least equal prominence;

2. )fisrepresenting the size of such products on labels or in any other manner:

3. The act or practice of preticketing merchandise at an indicated retail price, -when the indicated retail price is in excess of t.he generally prevailing retail price for snell merchandise in the j.

Complaint 63 r.

trade area, or ,,,hen there is no generally prevailing retail price for such merchandise in the trade area;

4. Furnishing to others any means or instrumentality by or through -which the public may be misled as to the usual and regular retail price of, or the size of respondents' merchandise; Putting any plan into operation through the use of which retailers 01' others may misrepresent the usual and regular retail price or the size of respondents' merchandise; 6. Using the term " list price. ' or any other words or terms of similar import, to refer to price of merchandise unless such amounts are the prices at which the merchandise is usually and customarily sold in the trade area. in which such representations arc made, 01' otherwise misrepresenting the usual a.nd customary retail price or prices of respondents' merchandise in any trade area.

It i8 further ordered That the respondents herein shall within sixty (GO) days after service upon them of this order, file with the Commission a report in writing setting fort.h in detail the manner and form jn iyhich they have eomplicd with this order.