Cole Haan Class Action Says Outlet Store Pricing is Deceptive

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Shoe retailer Cole Haan was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging the company deceptively markets shoes made for its outlet stores.

Lead plaintiff Kevin Park alleges in his class action lawsuit that Cole Haan markets items at its outlets as being discounted from “original” or “regular” priced; however, says the plaintiff, the shoes are specifically made for the outlet and are never presented for sale at the supposedly regular or original prices.

“[T] he original price was a tactic designed to mislead consumers into believing they were receiving an item at a discounted rate,” alleges the Cole Haan class action.

Park says he purchased shoes from a Cole Haan outlet store in 2017 for what he believed was a 50 percent discount from what the shoes would have been sold at in a regular Cole Haan retail location. The plaintiff says that the shoes he bought were never offered for sale at a regular retail location and he would not have purchased them or paid as much for them if he had known this.

According to the class action lawsuit, Cole Haan manufactures two sets of merchandise, one for its regular retail locations and another for its outlet locations. The items made for the general retail stores, alleges the plaintiff, are often higher quality using better leather and stitching.

Further, Park says items made for the outlet locations are identified by a “II” after the item’s name on the shoe box. The plaintiff alleges that items identified as specifically made for the outlet locations are deceptively marketed at supposed “discount” prices. “[B]ecause of the ‘original’ or ‘regular’ price, consumers believe they are purchasing the same quality items from the retail store,” argues the plaintiff.

The plaintiff says that Cole Haan markets itself as an exclusive brand known for high quality shoes; “[h]owever, in an effort to maximize their profits, Defendants devised a scheme where they would manufacture inferior products directly for their outlet stores but price them at retail store prices leading customers to believe they were buying retail products.  Defendants then discount the items to mislead customers into believing they were receiving a significant discount – when in fact they were not because the products were never sold at the higher rate.  The outlet stores essentially allowed Defendants to market products as if they were retail store products (both in price and quality) but sell them at ‘sale’ prices.”

Park seeks to represent a Class of consumers who purchased a Cole Haan Outlet product made for a Cole Haan Outlet store in California bearing an original price at any time during the past four years. The plaintiff alleges that Cole Haan has violated California’s Unfair Competition Law

The plaintiff is seeking restitution and damages and for Cole Haan to disgorge its allegedly “ill-gotten” gains from the pricing scheme.

Park is represented by Alisa A. Martin of Amartin Law PC and Lindsay David and Sandra Brennan of Brennan & David Law Group.

The Cole Haan Deceptive Outlet Pricing Class Action Lawsuit is Park v. Cole Haan LLC, et al., Case No. 3:17-cv-01422-LAB-BGS, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.