AFL-CIO Tells Non-Union Store 'Unionmade' to Stop With the 'Unionmade' Crap
Earlier this month we told you about Unionmade, the upscale San Francisco menswear store that sells expensive clothes that are not, in fact, union made. The cherry on top of that particular style-over-substance outrage was the fact that Unionmade's logo bears a suspicious resemblance to the logo of the AFL-CIO. And now, the AFL-CIO's lawyers have sent them an angry letter demanding they change their name and logo.
The full letter, which can be found here, demands that the company yank its handshake logo, and "change the name of your store to a mark that does not deceive the public into thinking they are purchasing items that are actually made by union workers." Of course, it's hard to tell initially whether letters like this represent serious legal threats, or are just meant to make a statement. But the AFL-CIO's letter was worthwhile for this line alone:
The AFL-CIO finds your use of the UNIONMADE mark highly misleading as the dictionary definition and understanding amongst the public is that "union-made" means "produced by workers belonging to a labor union." See Dictionary.com.
We've emailed Unionmade for a response and will update if we receive one. For more on Unionmade's background, see this Peter Dreier piece.