We'll be back at Agenda this Aug. 1st and 2nd showing some Fall/Winter goods. Hyped. For sales inquiries, send us an email to info@tlrandco.com. TLRANDCO.COM
Vulgar Villains and The Livid Rival and Company
We're really hyped to announce that we linked up with our good friends over at Tradition to work on a nice collaboration project due to release early summer dubbed the Camo Pack. Its one of our favorite projects so far for many reasons, but the main one is that Tradition was our very first account. For that, we salute them. Three different cut and sew camo pocket tees will be dropping in three different colorways at Tradition, with one other style droppin exclusively on TLRANDCO.COM. These are all hand made in the USA like they're supposed to be. Here's a teaser for the Camo Pack project set to drop real soon. TRADITION X TLRANDCO.
Video shot and edited by Chandler Landon. Music production by JShock. LAMRKT.COM
First off we want to thank everybody for the support we have received concerning this bullshit Cease and Desist order from Lacoste. It looks like Lacoste, or their lawyers didn't like our last blog post and are still sending us demands. We find that amusing. This email was sent by ANOTHER one of their Lawyers, Richard Lehv. What a Dick. Below is the email we received and a nice and lengthy response from us, which we have still not gotten a reply to. We'll take that "W" and keep pushing. Enjoy.
-Dear Mr. Sagastume,
We have received your email of February 3, 2012, in which you say that you are “in the process of taking the #HeadsUp project down from [your] online shop.” Please confirm that you have permanently ceased use of the headless alligator logo to which we objected. In particular, please confirm that you will no longer sell or promote items bearing this logo, not just online, but also through dealers, by word of mouth and in any other manner.
We request confirmation that you will permanently cease such use because your blog says that you are “just gonna lay low,” which could mean that you will temporarily suspend sale and promotion of the logo, and might resume sale and promotion in the future.
In the absence of an unequivocal commitment by you permanently to discontinue your sale and promotion of goods bearing the headless alligator logo – which infringes and dilutes our client’s famous mark – our client will have no choice but to take legal action against you in federal court.
As for the statements you make on your blog about our client’s factories, please be aware that Lacoste and its licensees are opposed to human trafficking and slavery and take steps to ensure that such illegal behaviors are not taking place within the Lacoste supply chain. These steps include securing contractual commitments from all vendors to refrain from this type of behavior and to comply with applicable laws. Lacoste also has secured the right to conduct facility audits during visits, and to conduct unannounced audits using independent auditing agencies.
In your blog, you make false and defamatory claims about Lacoste and its suppliers, including that Lacoste sells “slave made tennis gear,” “us[es] sweatshops in countries like Guatemala and India,” “pay[s] some of these people 8 cents a day,” “hire[s] kids, some [of whom] are missing limbs from working in the famous brand's manufacturing facilities,” “rob[s] these sweatshop workers of a quality life,” and causes “limbs lost, [and] lives destroyed.” Please explain in detail what steps you took to investigate these claims before publishing them, and provide documentation supporting these claims. If you cannot provide an explanation and supporting documentation, we will assume that you have not done any investigation, and that you knowingly or recklessly published false and defamatory statements about Lacoste. We will add this to our legal action against you in federal court.
Finally, we note that in your email you say you “bought blank hats downtown.” We assume you also bought blank t-shirts and hoodies. Please describe in detail the steps you took to investigate and determine that the hats, t-shirts and hoodies you bought downtown were not made by slave labor, were not made in sweatshops, were not made by workers paid 8 cents a day, and were not made by workers injured on the job, and provide supporting documentation. In particular, please let us know the countries in which the garments you sell were manufactured and whether you visited the factories in which they were made. If you made no such investigation and have no such documentation, we think this will be of interest to the court.
We regard this as a serious matter. Please let us have your response on or before March 8, 2012.
Very truly yours,
Richard Lehv
Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu, P.C."
Here's our response:
As you know, we recently got hit with a cease and desist order by Lacoste for a design we created. It really wasn't about their logo at all either. It was about big corporate companies and brands like Lacoste using sweatshops in countries like Guatemala and India and so on and so on. The fact that they don't care about the people they hire really dilutes their brand name and also the quality of their good will as a company.
They pay some of these people 8 cents a day and charge over $70 for a polo shirt retail. They hire kids, some are missing limbs from working in the famous brand's manufacturing facilities. They literally charge an arm and a leg for their products. Its pretty sad. Whatever though, that isn't illegal. They're Lacoste. They can do no wrong. They are allowed to do this to people, I mean they help protect alligators in the wild. They care about things. Spare me the bullshit. They're allowed to rape you for your money and rob these sweatshop workers of a quality life. You know what's illegal? Using our 1st amendment rights to bring awareness to a huge problem. We're not allowed to parody a famous name or logo in fear that this will cause confusion or dilute the famous brand name/logo. I honestly think they're doing a great job of that by themselves already. We weren't trying to "infringe" on their trademark or copy their brand. We were making a point.
The headless lizard you see in our logo represents the victims of sweatshops. The limbs lost, the lives destroyed, the corporate greed we have all become accustomed to and the immoral business practices these companies are involved in. You know, the logo we created wasn't made to try and be like Lacoste or anything like there brand at all. We did it way different. Our look and aesthetic really set us apart from anything Lacoste has ever made. I feel like I should be able to hit them with a Cease and Desist order if they ever design anything remotely similar to what we did with our "infringing" logo. They cant be mad at that.
All in all, we're not mad about anything. We might be a little frustrated because we hoped to spread the word a bit longer, but we're flattered that we at least caught the attention of the criminals in question. We feel we got our point across. At least we hope we did. All we can do is talk about it and hope our friends in the media help us get the word out. Another Cease and Desist from Lacoste isn't shit to us. Until Lacoste publicly apologizes to the world for their bad business practices and confesses to their use of sweatshops, we will be here to let them know how stupid they look when they try to defend their brand name and precious logo.
In reality though, a huge campaign against Lacoste isn't even worth our time. The sheep and cattle are still gonna go and buy their over priced slave made tennis gear without a slight though of the victims behind the Alligator logo. They'll shut us down and people will forget about us and our voice will die with it. As long as we're here, those victims will have a voice, however small it is. At the end of the day this situation really just pushes us creatively to to keep designing and making some dope quality streetwear. Its just a few dudes behind TLR&Co. Its literally a David Vs. Goliath situation. Instead of fighting this C&D order and getting shut down by a tyrant company, we're just gonna lay low. I think that design might die happy. We'll keep designing new shit and pushing buttons. I kind of like that feeling too. Its motivating. You just switch it up on em.
As far as Lacoste goes or anybody related to their company, I hope they read this. I hope they lose an eyeball while doing so. Maybe then they can see how their sweatshop counterparts feel. Im my eyes, they're all pieces of shit for standing by a company that hides behind a cute little logo in their country clubs, talking up some racist ass shit for sure. Thats reality. They don't care about you. Lacoste uses sweatshops. Fuck Lacoste and everything they represent.
TLR&Co. Word Is Bond.
Below is a look at the Cease and Desist order which includes some pics they took off our site. This of course is from their American representatives. Enjoy. Please help us by spreading the word and thanks for your continued support.
Our extended family and friends in the Southabay, LAX-JFK, just dropped their Bootleg Collection this past weekend. The homies have been slangin the shit out this line since it dropped. Highlights will include the Biggie and Pac Storm Trooper joints! Don't sleep on these though. Last time they dropped, they sold out quick! For now, the LAX-JFK Bootleg Collection will exclusively be sold only at Tradition. Other shops might get lucky in the near future. Support real Steetwear and cop that. LAX-JFK.
The homie Young De just got back from Australia and is already back at it. We're excited to be a small part of his newest project Heads Up alongside OnSmash. We of course worked on the cover art for the mixtape, but in good streetwear fashion, we will also be releasing a collaboration tee as well. Here's a little teaser from the mixtape called “BurnOut” produced by super producer Jim Jonsin. You'll have to wait for the tee to drop though. Feel free to Download.
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