OTTAWA – The down jacket you just bought at a discount price to keep you warm this winter may actually contain bird parts and feces.
That’s the message Canada Goose, the maker of the iconic winter parka, is bringing to Parliament Hill Thursday in an effort to convince the Canadian government to do more to crack down on counterfeit goods, expected to hit a worldwide value of more than $1.7 trillion by 2015.
The industry committee of the House of Commons is investigating Canada’s intellectual property regime, and Kevin Spreekmeester, Canada Goose’s vice-president of global marketing, isn’t going to mince words when he appears as a witnesses Thursday.
Company tests show some Chinese-made fakes of Canada Goose jackets don’t contain any down at all but are filled with factory scraps. And instead of coyote fur on fur-trimmed hoods, some counterfeiters use raccoon dog, a species native to Asia, he says.
“They were filled with feather mulch, so that could be anything on the factory floor, from dust to feathers to bird parts. There was feces found in it. There was mildew, there was bacteria,” Spreekmeester said in an interview Wednesday, characterizing the findings as “disgusting.”
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“In terms of a health hazard, bringing that stuff into the country is not a good idea. And secondly, if you are fooled into buying a counterfeit jacket and you’re expecting to keep you warm and protect you from the cold in extreme situations, you stand the risk of frostbite or worst,” he said.
Spreekmeester, who also serves as co-chair of the Canadian Intellectual Property Council, says it’s time to give Canadian border agents the power to seize counterfeit goods.
“Canada is one of the only countries in the world right now that does not allow its border patrol that ex officio power.”
The Office of the United States Trade Representative, in a special report last year, makes the same recommendation, saying “Canada should provide its Customs officials with ex officio authority to effectively stop the transit of counterfeit … products through its territory.”
In the absence of any formal policy, Spreekmeester said Canadian border officials can alert manufacturers “if you have a good relationship with them, but they just don’t have the power to do it. What we’re saying is throughout Europe, we work with border control, it’s a cost-neutral process because we pay for the detainment and destruction of counterfeit product, but they are at least allowed to stop it and hold it and send the manufacturer or notable party an inquiry,” said Spreekmeester.
He hailed as a “landmark” decision a recent judgment of the District Court of Stockholm in favour of Canada Goose> In it, the company was awarded more than $100,000 in damages and two people were sentenced to prison for selling thousands of fake Canada Goose jackets over 10 years in Sweden.
The Canadian government also needs to step up its efforts to take down rogue websites that peddle discounted knock-offs, said Spreekmeester, although he acknowledges that is trickier than granting new powers to border control officials.
The retail price for Canada Goose down vests starts at $275, and jackets go all the way up to $1,600, each with a hologram in its seam as proof of authenticity.
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