Quills cut off 'Made in Pakistan' sweatshirt labels in deliberate attempt to 'mislead' buyers, court told

Inspectors found clothing labels were tampered with to hide country of origin

Sweatshirts with Quills-branded swing labels that said, ‘Made in Ireland’ that still had the original label showing the country of origin as Pakistan, not Ireland. 

“Ring of Kerry” and “Killarney Ireland” sweatshirts had their original "Made in Pakistan" labels cut and tags were added to give the misleading idea they were made in Ireland, Killarney District Court was told on Tuesday.

Quills Retail Ltd, trading as Quills Woollen Market, High Street Killarney and Main Street Kenmare, were before the court on three summonses by the Consumer and Competition Protection Commission.

A guilty plea was being entered on two of the summonses, and director Padraig Quill Jnr was in court, his solicitor Padraig O’Connell said at the outset.

In evidence, authorised officer Sinéad Tyrrell said on September 18th, following a consumer complaint, four authorised officers of the CCPC conducted an inspection of the Killarney premises. The labels saying the country of origin on a hooded “Killarney Ireland” sweatshirt appeared to have been deliberately cut, and a swing tag on the garment said, “Made in Ireland”. She conducted a search through the sweatshirts and found one that had a fully intact label “made in Pakistan”.

Sweatshirts with Quills-branded swing labels that said, ‘Made in Ireland’ that still had the original label showing the country of origin as Pakistan, not Ireland. 

A follow-up investigation on November 7th, in Quill's Kenmare store, found a similar scenario, this time with hooded “Ring of Kerry” sweatshirts.

Again, in Kenmare, it appeared the labels had been tampered with, and again they found one specifying “Made in Pakistan” while a tag said, “Made in Ireland”.

Mr Quill emailed the CCPC in January, accepting responsibility, the officer agreed with Mr O’Connell, solicitor.

A mistake had been made in furnishing instructions to the manufacturer of the tags and these should have said designed in Ireland, not made in Ireland, the solicitor said.

This was a large company, employing 80, the solicitor said and Ms Tyrrell agreed there were no previous convictions.

Judge David Waters asked if the labels saying where they were manufactured were removed and Ms Tyrell handed photos into court, to show they were essentially cut off and an additional tag applied saying made in Ireland.

State solicitor Diane Reidy said the penalties were a class B fine, of up to €4,000, and or six months in prison.

Solicitor Padraig O’Connell said the company director in court was a young man who had come through the ranks of a company which started in the square in Kenmare.

Sweatshirts with Quills-branded swing labels that said, ‘Made in Ireland’ that still had the original label showing the country of origin as Pakistan, not Ireland. 

He had entered a plea very early and going forward there would be far more oversight. There would be significant reputational damage, the solicitor said, pleading for mitigation.

Judge Waters said it wasn't" an accidental matter.” It had been a deliberate act to mislead; high tourist numbers relied on it being manufactured in Ireland.

There had been a deliberate attempt to remove the tag by scissors on each of the sweatshirts, the judge said.

Judge Waters said he accepted there would be reputational damage . He imposed a conviction and a fine of Euro 500 on the first count and awarded costs, which State solicitor Ms Reidy said should be Euro 1,000 including expenses of the investigation.

The second summons was taken into account.