An Open Letter to 30A Fans:
Since 2007, we’ve worked really hard to build “30A” into a positive lifestyle brand that would make locals, visitors and fans both happy and proud. Last month (July 2014), several local stores began carrying and promoting a full line of knock-off products that feature a logo that’s strikingly similar to our famous 30A logo. In many cases, the logo is printed on very similar-looking (but cheaply-made) products that we believe are intended to confuse our fans into believing that they are buying authentic 30A Gear.
We met with the owner of these stores in-person to politely explain our concerns, but unfortunately the owner does not share those concerns or an understanding of intellectual property. Despite the fact that 30A® has been an officially Registered Trademark since March 17, 2009 (Federal Registration Number: 3,592,837), his stated plans are to continue to sell these knock-off products. So, unfortunately, we are now working through the lengthy and costly legal process to fully enforce our Federal trademark rights.
We do not want to name this person or their stores, nor do we want to hurt anyone’s business in any way, so we definitely won’t ask our 30A fans not to shop there. But we do think it’s very important that we educate our fans — especially unsuspecting visitors — about the important differences between our Official 30A Gear and these new knock-off products:
Our famous 30A stickers have been making people happy around the world since 2009. We give 100% of all 30A sticker donation box revenue to Alaqua Animal Refuge. To-date, the 30A sticker program has raised over $90,000 for this wonderful local charity. Here are the two stickers side-by-side:
Although the knock-off 30A products often come in identical colors and styles (for example, both logos have precisely 11 rays of sunshine), the fake products often feature over-sized graphics and are printed on very low-quality products:
In fact, angry customers have tried to return knock-off 30A gear to our stores because their products have fallen apart or suffer from defects. Here’s a side-by-side look at our high-quality Adams® caps next to their hats — which use our same exact colors, but on a low-quality hat:
In an effort to help our frustrated retail partners compete with these cheaply-made fake 30A products, we provided them with new signs in an effort to help them stand apart from the competition. A few days later, the other stores came out with their own version of our signs:
Our super high-quality 30A Hoodie features sewn-on letters. The knock-off version is made from a cheap material and features a smaller logo, because it’s far less expensive to produce:
In short, if you see large signs like these hanging in front of any store, you’ll instantly know that it’s NOT The Real Deal:
We would like to sincerely thank all of our fans for your ongoing support and words of encouragement. We are extremely confident that this will all work out in a court of law. In the meantime, thank you for helping us share this information, in an effort to help 30A fans get the high-quality products that they want and deserve. Onward and upward!! And thank you again for supporting us over the years. We are blessed beyond words.
