FTC Sues Electrowarmth Alleging False Claim Over Heated Fabric Mattress Pads

(RTTNews) - The Federal Trade Commission has sued Electrowarmth Products, LLC and its owner, Daniel Grindle, on allegations of making deceptive claims about the heated fabric mattress pads they sell for truck bunks. The FTC charged Grindle and Electrowarmth with violating the Textile Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act.

Ohio-based Electrowarmth sells mattress pads of varying sizes, with wires and thermostats that provide heat. The FTC alleges that Electrowarmth made false claims that its goods were made in USA, while they were actually made in China since 2019.

According to the complaint, Electrowarmth used U.S.-made textiles for mattress pads intended for use in truck bunks. Electrowarmth decided in 2019 to move production to China and stop using U.S.-made textiles as part of a cost-cutting move. However, it continued to market the heated mattress pads as "Made in USA," "Made in the USA since 1939," and "made-in-America products."

Electrowarmth also misled their customers by asking the Chinese manufacturer to make and package the products "exactly the same" as they were previously manufactured in the U.S., the complaint said.

The FTC claims that Grindle and Electrowarmth violated the Textile Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act by labeling and advertising the origin of the textiles used in their products as the United States, when these textile fiber products were wholly imported from China.

The FTC accuses Grindle and Electrowarmth of failing to accurately label imported products with the country of origin and falsely advertising imported products as "Made in the USA."

The agency's proposed order would stop Grindle and Electrowarmth from deceptively claiming that products were Made in USA, when in fact they were made in China. It also requires Grindle and Electrowarmth to make certain disclosures about the country of origin of any product subject to the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act, and to provide compliance reports.

The order also imposes an $815,809 monetary judgment, which is fully suspended due to Grindle's and Electrowarmth's inability to pay.