What is Product Compliance?

[miss_simplicity]

So I bought a pair of Steve Madden loafers at Winners a month ago, brought them home and compared them to the current selling loafers on the Steve Madden website. The inner lining of the loafers were slightly different such that the colour differ. I e-mailed Winner's customer service department, asking them if they sell authentic Steve Madden's and why do they differ from the current selling ones. The rep then asked me to give them some numbers on my receipt and they'll be able to check it out with Product Compliance. The rep got back to me and told me they are authentic, verified by Product Compliance and Steve Madden makes a line of shoes specifically for Winners.

Now is there anyone here able to explain what Product Compliance is? I tried looking up what PC is, but the sites are just saying they're a set of safety guidelines. So how do these safety guidelines verify those shoes are authentic? I'm just confused. And has anyone ever worked for Winners or its sister company, Marshalls, to know that there are lines of shoes exclusively made for Winners? Because I thought Winners just takes in overstocked items. Please help and explain.

Thanks in advance!

[HotYaris]

rep then asked me to give them some numbers on my receipt and they'll be able to check it out with Product Compliance. The rep got back to me and told me they are authentic, verified by Product Compliance

Why didn't you just ask him?

[miss_simplicity]

Why didn't you just ask him?

I did. The rep hasn't responded yet. Do you know the answer?

[Poulet]

You may want to hire a private investigator and discuss it with your lawyer.



Joke. It's a pair of shoes. Who cares! Just wear them.

[miss_simplicity]

You may want to hire a private investigator and discuss it with your lawyer.



Joke. It's a pair of shoes. Who cares! Just wear them.

You know what's a joke? You.

Nah, just kidding. It's called knowledge. I assume you don't know, so won't be able to answer either.

[GTT1]

This is probably something he made up because it sounded good. He probably goes by that old adage of "bull sh_t baffles brains" and it seems to be working.

Actually it seems that winners should be clearly indicating items that they are getting made for them as they clearly may not be the same or as good as the items made for general wholesale to other stores. I also was under the impression that they sold brand name overstock goods.

Buyer beware

[HotYaris]

The inner lining of the loafers were slightly different such that the colour differ.!

The color of the lining is slightly different? Oh my God! How can you stand it? Hope you don't lose any sleep over this.

[HoleyMoley]

Product Compliance matches the item description and specifications submitted to Winners from the vendor against the actual item sold.

It is a way to verify the item you bought was what the vendor (in this case, Steve Madden) represented to Winners, and not something else (i.e. product was switched with a grey-market fake, or the price tags were switched in store, or Steve Madden sent the wrong item to the stores, etc.)

[hitman_24]

Steve madden, seriously? Aren't they just knock offs of expensive brands anyway?

[Wingding]

Product Compliance matches the item description and specifications submitted to Winners from the vendor against the actual item sold.

It is a way to verify the item you bought was what the vendor (in this case, Steve Madden) represented to Winners, and not something else (i.e. product was switched with a grey-market fake, or the price tags were switched in store, or Steve Madden sent the wrong item to the stores, etc.)

I think this is on-track but I think Product Compliance in this case would specifically be the name of a department or workgroup within TJX (the parent company of Winners) that is responsible for ensuring whatever they sell in their stores is genuine and meets applicable government requirements. Much of the stuff sold at TJX's Winners and HomeSense stores in Canada is bought from vendors/distributors in the US, so it may not automatically meet Canadian standards for materials, labelling, consumer product safety, etc. And obviously it would be a tremendous blow to their image if it hit the media that they had been selling unsuspecting consumers counterfeit products, albeit without realizing it themselves.

Many clothing and footwear companies make different versions of a given product for different stores. A couple of years ago I bought a pair of Clarks shoes at the Bay for something like $90 or $100 on sale. Then I go to Sears a couple of weeks later and they have a big pile of the "same" shoe (same brand and style name) in the middle of an aisle and they're on sale for $49. So I'm mildly choked at first. But as I look them over and compare them with the ones from the Bay (which I happened to have on my feet at the time) there are very obvious differences in the quality, even though the basic design is the same. The leather on the Sears version looked and felt like cheap vinyl, and the moulded outsole had a completely different finish and seemed to be attached to the leather in a different way. And the origin labels inside indicated different countries of manufacture. Clearly not as good a shoe as the one I bought at the Bay, despite it supposedly being the same.

Madden (and other mfrs) likely custom-modify certain of their products to meet TJX's specific price-point objectives. I think more and more of the stuff at Winners these days is sourced that way . . . relatively few of the products in their stores come from buying truckloads of bankruptcy/liquidation/overstock goods dirt-cheap the way it used to be, since there are so many off-price retail chains competing for that kind of innventory these days.

[mslolo]

Now is there anyone here able to explain what Product Compliance is? I tried looking up what PC is, but the sites are just saying they're a set of safety guidelines. So how do these safety guidelines verify those shoes are authentic? I'm just confused. And has anyone ever worked for Winners or its sister company, Marshalls, to know that there are lines of shoes exclusively made for Winners? Because I thought Winners just takes in overstocked items. Please help and explain.

Thanks in advance!

I remember that one week the winning designer on Project Runway Canada had her design manufactured for sale at Winners. This was a few years ago but it was the first time I realized that Winners didn't just source overstocks but sold items made directly for them.