Potter takes on retail giant over imported lookalikes

By WAYNE THOMPSON

Matakana potter Anthony Morris is picking a fight with giant retail chain Mitre 10 over the terracotta pots it is selling, which he claims are copycats of his own.

The chain's Vietnamese pots are undercutting the Morris & James product by up to 62 per cent.

Morris & James, near Warkworth, sells its pots in 50 shops around the country.

Mr Morris said one of his retailer customers cancelled an order last week because the Vietnamese product was on sale price at the local Mitre 10 store and had exhausted the market.

A small Morris & James glazed pot sells at Matakana for $79. Mitre 10 was this week selling a slightly smaller Vietnamese version for $30.

But Mr Morris said his beef with Mitre 10 was not for bringing in cheaper pots.

"I believe imports keep New Zealand manufacturers on their toes as far as quality and price are concerned.

"To me the most important thing is the pots should say where they are made and there is no sign anywhere on them to show this."

He said the origin of the pots was fudged by a cardboard tag on the pots saying: "Fired Earth - designed specifically to complement the finest New Zealand living spaces. Glazed and terracota pots of distinction."

He believed the tag would mislead people to think the pots were made in New Zealand.

He was talking to lawyers about trying to force Mitre 10 to be honest and say where the pots are made.

But Mitre 10 denies its Fired Earth brand tag suggests the pots are made in New Zealand.

"There is no intention to deceive," said Mitre 10 general manager of marketing, Alan Nees.

Lots of pots were imported from China and Malaysia as well as Vietnam and did not carry a label saying where they were made, he said.

For the company to look at having its label contain the country of origin it would need to understand why it was necessary and how much it would add to the cost of the product.

A Commerce Commission spokesman said only clothing and footwear were required by law to bear the country of origin.

But the Fair Trading Act makes it unlawful to make false or misleading claims about the place of origin.

Mr Morris said he was also concerned that the name of his product was being harmed by the imports.

"People think its one of our pots and have called to say the glaze is dropping off and demand we replace it.

"We tell them to look again at the logo on the pot. It looks like our logo from a distance though the wording on it is different.

"When you walk into Mitre 10 you see the pots as from Morris & James - they are that good a likeness."

Mr Nees said three shapes of pots in six colours were imported from Vietnam over the last two years.

"Some might be similar and some might not be."

When offered the range, Mitre 10 thought they looked like a fashionable product New Zealanders would buy.

Mr Nees said the logo clearly identified the pot as the Fired Earth brand, which Mitre 10 had created.

He recalled there were experiments with logo shapes other than oval but the company did not go ahead with them.

Mr Nees said the pots were a moderate sales success but retailers wanted to stick with the line.

Steve Jenkins, of the North Shore- based importer of the pots, All Trends International, said there was a big market for pots from Malaysia, Vietnam and Italy. In Vietnam, pottery was made in homes and collected by a central warehouse for export.

Mr Jenkins said the Fired Earth pots were of a style and colour that had been around for a long time.

Cardboard packaging had Vietnam on it so there was no attempt to pass them off as a local product.

Morris & James Pottery and Tilemakers is one of the biggest businesses in Northland and last year paid $1 million in wages.

Mr Morris said the Fired Earth imports were cheaper because of low wages and production costs. They were made with a slurry in a mould whereas Morris & James pots were hand-thrown on a potter's wheel and the clay was compressed to make the pot thicker and stronger.