Amid reports of ISIS attacks and new Ebola victims, there is one Democratic senator fighting for the real issue of our time — counterfeit prom dresses.
“It’s time to get tough on these counterfeiters,” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) told WCBS 880 over the weekend.
Menendez is putting a new focus on tougher regulations against knockoff formal wear and is proposing new legislation that would ramp up customs enforcement to help stop these counterfeit gowns from making it into the country. He wants the White House to start focusing enforcement efforts on websites distributing counterfeit goods.
“The domestic prom and bridal dress industry is increasingly under threat from Chinese dress manufacturers and websites that sell counterfeit goods directly to U.S. consumers,” Menendez wrote in a letter to Lev Kubiak, director of the Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center.
“The effects of this direct-to-consumer sale of counterfeit goods negatively impacts companies, consumers, and taxpayers alike,” read the letter, obtained by The Hill. “American companies that invest in the design, marketing, and manufacturing, and distribution of prom and bridal dresses are losing sales to Chinese firms that flagrantly violate U.S. law.”
Menendez also presented his ideas at a press conference in Caldwell, N.J. over the weekend. He said an estimated 700,000 counterfeit bridal and prom dresses make their way into the country each year, costing U.S. shops over $1 billion a year.
“There’s a difference between competition and ripoffs,” Menendez said at the conference. “When you get ripped off you’re not going to be happy.”
