- Owner Thomas Kallish shown at the Tommie Copper retail store in Mount Kisco in 2013.
One of Westchester”™s most lauded entrepreneurial successes in recent years, Tommie Copper Inc., has been tarnished by charges of false and deceptive advertising in separate legal actions by the Federal Trade Commission and customers that will be settled in part by a $1.35 million payment this month by the Mount Kisco company to the FTC.
The settlement does not resolve a federal class action lawsuit brought in July by four Tommie Copper customers across the country who said they were duped into buying the products for their advertised therapeutic effects but found them useless. Another Tommie Copper customer in Iowa filed a similar class action complaint in April against the company. The cases are expected to be consolidated in U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York.
A federal judge in White Plains on Dec. 2 issued an approximately $86.8 million judgment against the 5-year-old athletic apparel company for claiming in infomercials and other advertising that its copper-infused compression clothing provided pain relief and other therapeutic benefits that were not proven in scientific studies. The judgment sum represents Tommie Copper”™s reported gross sales in the U.S. for its compression garments from April 2011, when founder Thomas Kallish rolled out the largely direct-marketing business, to October 2014.
The company”™s products include copper-infused compression sleeves, gloves, socks, braces, shirts, shorts and tights priced from $24.50 to $69.50.
If the $1.35 million payment is made this month, the remainder of the judgment would be suspended, U.S. District Court Judge Vincent L. Briccetti ruled. The full judgment will immediately be due, however, if the company misstated its assets and their value in financial statements to the FTC.
The federal order prohibits Tommie Copper from continuing to claim that the copper in its products provides pain relief to consumers; treats or relieves chronic or severe pain or pain or inflammation from diseases including multiple sclerosis, arthritis and fibromyalgia, or that the specialty apparel provides pain relief comparable or superior to drugs or surgery. The company must provide “competent and reliable scientific evidence” from clinical tests on humans wearing the product before any such claims can be made in advertising.
“It”™s tempting to believe that wearing certain clothing will eliminate severe pain, but Tommie Copper didn’t have science to back its claims,” said Jessica Rich, director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in the agency”™s announcement of the settlement.
Kallish could not be reached for comment on the settlement and the company”™s future. An attorney at Finn Dixon & Herling LLP, the Stamford law firm representing Tommie Copper and its owner in the class action suits, did not respond to the Business Journal”™s request for comment on the company”™s legal defense.
Manhattan attorney Antonio Vozzolo said the FTC settlement will have “a nominal impact” on the class action lawsuit in which his firm, Faruqi and Faruqi LLP, represents complaining customers of Tommie Copper. “The litigation is continuing,” he said. “The FTC action just highlights the veracity of the allegations contained in the complaint.”
Television talk show host Montel Williams is also named as a defendant in that class action complaint. Williams, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, in infomercials for Tommie Copper extolled the copper-infused clothes for the pain relief and active life they gave him, and his statements were frequently cited by the FTC”™s consumer protection attorneys and lawyers for aggrieved Tommie Copper customers in court documents.
“The basis for naming Mr. Williams as a defendant,” said Vozzolo, “is he”™s a well-known celebrity endorser who gains immediate credibility with the general public, and the company uses that to hawk its goods.”
Vozzolo”™s clients claimed they were persuaded to buy Tommie Copper products by claims in infomercials and other advertising that they relieved chronic joint and muscular pain, aided in injury management or repaired injured tissue, accelerated physical recovery, neutralized free radicals and improved muscular power, strength and endurance.
Attorneys argued those claims are elements of a “hoax” that induced customers “to purchase a worthless and/or overpriced product. Tommie Copper does so with one goal in mind ”“ to reap enormous profits at the expense of unsuspecting consumers.”
“There”™s no doubt these guys (Kallish and Williams) capitalized on people who have legitimate and serious medical conditions,” Vozzolo said.
Vozzolo noted the company”™s nearly $87 million in sales over 3½ years in an operation that relies largely on direct marketing through infomercials and its website and operates only one retail store at its 74 S. Moger Ave. headquarters in Mount Kisco.
With that impressive sales performance, “It”™s remarkable that the settlement was for only $1.3 million,” he said. “I”™m speechless.”
The FTC likely considered the company”™s financial condition when agreeing to the much lower payment, Vozzolo said.
In a 2013 interview with the Business Journal, Kallish traced the start of Tommie Copper ”“ the latest in a string of apparel-industry businesses he has operated or started ”“ to a water skiing accident in which he was severely injured after striking a submerged tree trunk while training for a competition. He said he underwent a double hip replacement, knee replacement and multiple surgeries on his back over two years.
Kallish tried medical compression apparel and compression sportswear but found little relief from his chronic arthritic pain. And the bulky, constrictive apparel could not be worn comfortably when sleeping.
Using his knowledge of fabric technology and network of industry connections, he experimented with a weave of copper-infused yarn in lightweight compression fabrics that could be worn when active or sleeping. Copper, which his company in its marketing calls “the element of comfort,” seemed to reduce his debilitating pain.
“At first I thought it was a placebo,” he said. But as his self-experiment continued, “I stopped taking my pain medication.”
Still, “I had to see whether I was in a placebo zone or not.” He made about 150 copper-infused garments for professional athletes in his wide circle of friends. Their responses led him to launch the business.
Kallish has given that account of his company”™s start on the Tommie Copper website and in numerous infomercials, advertisements and media interviews. Attorneys for dissatisfied customers have turned the company”™s genesis story against its author. They claim the placebo that Kallish at first thought his experimental fabric might be was just that for customers ”“ a placebo.
“In fact, clinical tests have found no meaningful therapeutic effect for copper concerning pain, inflammation, physical functioning, and stiffness beyond those of a placebo for patients with pain symptoms,” attorneys claimed in the complaint.
Tommie Copper”™s rapid success and growth has brought the company and its 62-year-old founder acclaim in the Westchester business community. Kallish in 2014 was honored by The Business Council of Westchester with its Hall of Fame Award for entrepreneurial success.
