# Re-branding clothes from China...Legal???



## Ezra4ever (May 11, 2011)

I was thinking of manufactured wholesaled tees, shirts, flannels, jackets, etc...from China. The products are already established brands in China though. 

Is it legal to purchase wholesale products from China, take off the labels, change labels and basically re-branding it/changing the brand, for sales in the US???


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## kimura-mma (Jul 26, 2008)

If there are any copyrighted or trademarked embellishments on the garments, it could be infringement or counterfeiting to replace the labels and sell it as your own brand.

If the garments are blank, they can't really be protected by IP. I suppose it could still be counterfeiting, but I don't know how easy that is to pursue. So while there may be some legal gray area, the risk may actually be fairly low.

But out of curiosity, why would you need to re-label or re-brand? If you think there is a market in the US for established Chinese brands, then sell the clothing as is. If you want to add your own branding, just add a hangtag, sticker, postcard, custom packaging, etc. As the retailer/reseller of the goods, that would be fine.


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## Ezra4ever (May 11, 2011)

kimura-mma said:


> But out of curiosity, why would you need to re-label or re-brand? If you think there is a market in the US for established Chinese brands, then sell the clothing as is. If you want to add your own branding, just add a hangtag, sticker, postcard, custom packaging, etc. As the retailer/reseller of the goods, that would be fine.


Well, that's what I kinda want to do...I want to add my own hangtags, etc...but also want to change it to my own brand. The manufacturer already has shirts made, but it's under a brand out in China. I would love to meet with the manufacturers and customize my own designs and make it original, but that's out of the equation. So I just want to order the shirts that I like in bulk, re-brand it and sell it.

But that's where I do not want to get in trouble for...


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## kimura-mma (Jul 26, 2008)

But what is the benefit to re-branding the shirts? Just buy wholesale and re-sell at retail. If you get sales and create cash flow, you can then start doing high volume and then get into customizing.


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## printingray (Apr 4, 2012)

You business is registers or not? if your business is not register and you haven't the rights to import than its illegal. You must have to get copy rights, register your brand than import.


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## Ezra4ever (May 11, 2011)

kimura-mma said:


> But what is the benefit to re-branding the shirts? Just buy wholesale and re-sell at retail. If you get sales and create cash flow, you can then start doing high volume and then get into customizing.


The benefit would be selling it under my brand and not under a brand out in China...then I can worry about customizing later on, while trying to establish a brand.


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## Ezra4ever (May 11, 2011)

printingray said:


> You business is registers or not? if your business is not register and you haven't the rights to import than its illegal. You must have to get copy rights, register your brand than import.


have all my licenses, permit, but haven't registered yet....all i'm doing is researching


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## Mabuzi (Jul 3, 2007)

Change the labels. If your contract with the company allows you to then do it. What you cannot do is pass off the products as your own without agreement. There are t-shirt and hoodie suppliers that sell the products with tear away labels so you can add your own. But that is with consent.

What you would need to check is the regulations of country of origin in the label. Dont put made in the usa, when its not, as that is dishonest.


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